The Utonium Trials
by Ergoemos
Summary: The Professor is on trial for the creation of the Powerpuff Girls, who haven't physically aged at all since they were born four years ago. How will Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup cope with being considered as monsters by the rest of the world and with the law against them? This is not your usual Powerpuff Girls story. Expect adult themes, violence and a more realistic setting.
1. Ch 1: The City of Townsville

_Author's foreword: This story is complete, but it is not "Finished". It needs a lot of work in editing and rewriting. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless, but thank you for the time you spend reading. _

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 1:

**The City of Townsville**

A fanciful - almost melodic - humming filled the room as Bubbles vocalized the tune she heard in her head as she drew. She was lying on her stomach, down at the foot of her and her sister's bed, as she carefully outlined the shape of the kitty she was drawing. She felt the animal of the day was definitely feline. She wasn't sure yet what kind. So she started with a house cat and might move on to a lion or maybe an ocelot. If she had time, she would draw until it came to her.

"Bubbles, stop making so much noise! I am trying to work here!" Buttercup snarled as she gazed at the desktop computer shared by the three of them, a gift and privilege given to the girls by the Professor on their last birthday. She quietly tapped a few letters, stared at the screen a moment, before erasing her meager progress.

Bubbles stopped her humming and her drawing to look at her relatively dour sister. "I'm sorry, dear sister, for slowing your work to please your adoring fans." She returned to the kitty, starting make lighter outlines for the stripes on cat. Buttercup "hmph"-ed and clacked a few more words. Bubbles continued with a small smile on her face, "All seven of them."

Buttercup growled and started to defend herself, "My stories have over a hundred fans each! What have you-" Bubbles interrupted before she could get too testy.

"Relax, relax! I was just joking with you, Buttercup. I am didn't mean to-"Bubbles stood suddenly, interrupting herself, "Mailman's here!" She heard him a block away, tuning out the rest of the neighborhood. Learning how to selectively tune their hearing was one of the first talents she and her sister had mastered. Bubbles would otherwise be constantly bothered by the sounds of sparrows and squirrels arguing or by new baby of the couple across the street. She blurred out of the room and down the stairs into the home's entrance hall, flying most of the way. A second was all it took for her to travel the length of the house, passing the living room where Blossom was sitting on the couch studying some subject. Bubbles opened the front door and paused to look out at the world.

Bubbles looked out at the sunny, glorious Saturday. She could smell the fresh air. She could see some neighborhood kids down the street. She could feel that there was nothing wrong in the city right now. It was almost second nature anymore, knowing when the city was in trouble. Strolling peacefully down the sidewalk to the street and to their mailbox, the blonde Powerpuff girl waited patiently for Mr. Mailman.

She had met the mailman at the mailbox every day for the last two years, except when she was fighting the next threat to Townsville. She knew that Mr. Derrick Sanders has delivered mail for ten years. He has been married for seven. He and his wife, whom he met in the sorting room of Townsville Post Office, had a daughter who was six years old and just entering the first grade, two grades behind the Bubbles and her sisters. He was driving up now, stopping at the house just before the Professor's, but she could see his grin through the windshield of the mail-truck. Bubbles grinned back.

He drove up and stopped at their mailbox, "Hello, Bubbles!" he jovially exclaimed, as he searched for their mail.

Bubbles cheerfully replied, "Hello, Mr. Mailman! How are you?" Six months ago, Bubbles had tried to call him "Mr. Sanders". She thought it sounded more adult than just "Mr. Mailman". His reaction to her new name for him had been dramatic. He looked shocked, and asked if everything was alright and if she was okay. She returned to calling him Mr. Mailman the day following. Bubbles didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

"Good as always, Bubbles. No troubles in the city today?" He smiled, as he finally found their mail, and handed it to the azure clad Powerpuff girl.

She took the three envelopes, and gave an honest answer, "Nope, nothing yet. But we are always ready for trouble if it comes! Thanks for the mail! Have a good day!" She waved to him as he rolled forward again, moving to the next house. She flicked through the mail as she walked towards the front door. There was an envelope with the logo of a magazine on it, trying to get them to subscribe again. There was a thank-you letter from a bike shop, which they saved from a giant ogre monster.

The last letter, however, was strange. It was far dourer than the usual mail they usually got. The manila envelope was addressed to the Professor and came from someone named Daniel Mitternach. His title was Chief of Police! He was from Citysville?

Bubbles closed the door behind her, her gaze not leaving the envelope. She could hear Blossom ask softly, "Anything interesting today?" as she turned another page in the textbook.

Bubbles blinked and looked up, now able to see her sister, settled on the couch. "The Professor got mail from the Chief of Police… of Citysville." Blossom stopped highlighting some passage in the textbook, and the distant clack of keys stopped coming from above. After a moment of comprehension ticked off, there was a soft "whoosh" and a green shape, as Buttercup appeared downstairs, standing before Bubbles.

Her emerald-eyed sister looked at her impatiently and said, "Well? Read it. What does it say?" They all remembered that fateful two days they spent in the town of Citysville. None of them remembered it with pleasure. It was the only place their powers were banned by law. Whatever came from Citysville could _not_ be good news.

Blossom spoke up, "Tampering with the mail is a federal offense, Buttercup." Blossom was always mindful of keeping her sisters out of trouble. She had closed the text book she was reading, a third grade English book, and stared at the pair of them, to demonstrate she was serious.

Buttercup waved her off, saying, "I didn't say _open_ it. Use your x-ray vision, Bubbles. Or have you forgotten how again?" Buttercup would never let Bubbles live down the time she forgot she could see through walls and stuff while she pestered the Professor about what gifts were under the Christmas tree. Bubbles still maintained that not using her x-ray had made opening the gifts far more exciting.

Still, Bubbles frowned and tilted her head back, not going to take such sass without comment, "Of course not! I was just checking to see if you remembered." And as if to prove the point, she lifted the envelope in front of her eyes, flat, so it was easiest to read.

She had just about gotten to where she could read the first line when Blossom flew over and snatched the envelope from her grasp Blossom levitated about three feet above them as Bubbles crossly reacted, "Hey, I nearly had it!"

The rosy-eyed leader of the sisters looked down at the pair of them, "Yes, but we shouldn't be snooping in on his business. He works hard enough and we agreed to make his life as easy as possible, right? That includes not reading private mail."

Bubbles and Buttercup looked at each other. The green one sighed, "All right, all right. We will give it to him when he comes out for dinner." Buttercup floated back upstairs, while Blossom landed, handing the letter back to her blue sister.

"Put it on the kitchen countertop, we will give it to him later." Bubbles nodded in response to her sister's words and drifted in the direction of the kitchen. Her bright mood was returning rather quickly as she remembered that she had secreted away three cookies at the back of the pantry just for herself. She absentmindedly threw the mail onto the counter and started towards the door to their small, but well-stocked, pantry. _Now, where were those cookies_, she pondered as she searched through the boxes and containers in the food closet.

Bubbles had only settled back where her art sat unfinished, the trio of cookies in hand, when the hotline beeped its clarion call. She put down the drawing pencil. With a mental sigh she looked to the jaguar she had just started. She already felt it wasn't the animal of the day anyway. From downstairs, she heard Buttercup's eager cry of, "Another monster is attacking the town!" and the sound of her sisters speeding off.

Only a moment behind her sisters, she zoomed out of one of the open windows in their room. She had to fly a bit faster than usual cruising speed to catch up. She was quick enough to catch them before her sisters got three blocks away. They were only half way to the center to the town when they saw it. Whatever it was, it had crawled… No. It had rolled its way up from the harbor. That was not new, she had seen monsters with wheel-like appendages, or even entire monsters shaped like spheres. This one definitely was the second type.

From what Bubbles could see, it looked like a massive ball of snakes. The snakes looked like they were eight or so feet wide and their coils were so tangled up and knotted that she couldn't figure out where one snake started and the next ended. It might not even end. Maybe it was all connected to some center. The entire mass barely fit between buildings on the five lane street. It was rolling slowly but unimpeded, simply crushing entire cars beneath its coils. As it rolled, its many heads flattened in front as the heads in the back lifted again to observe its surroundings. At any given moment, there were seven or eight heads up and looking around. It was making good progress, already a mile from the coast.

Bubbles didn't have much time to examine the beast however, as the heads were snapping at the fleeing citizens of Townsville. The girls had to act. Blossom shouted out her orders in fast succession, "Buttercup-stop-and-disable-the-heads-Bubbles-try-to-slow-it-down-I-am-going-to-get-people-out-of-here!" And they broke apart, each to their respective tasks.

The blonde girl raced to the "front" of the snake thing, its sides scraping the buildings on each side as it moved further into the town. Bubbles wasn't sure she would be able to stop the thing. It was massive and, unlike two legged monsters, it really couldn't lose its balance and fall over. She could see from here that the scales on the monsters were not really scales. They seemed to be able to move independently of each other and would push off of walls and the ground to move forward.

Bubbles remembered she had a job to do beyond monster watching. She zoomed to a spot about one block in front of the thing. Facing the monster, the azure hero pushed forward, flying in the standard flight pose: fists forward and looking straight at her target. There was a lot of momentum she could build in a block's distance. She hit one of the many coils, going subsonic, about the speed of a jet airliner.

Had Bubbles had a choice, she would have preferred to hit a brick wall. She could get through brick walls, even most metal walls. Whatever the monster was made of, it had about a foot of give, before all her momentum was absorbed. The recoil was painful, her elbows bucking and her shoulders ached fiercely.

The blow knocked the breath from her lungs and she bounced off of the scales. She was stunned for half a second but recovered far before she hit the ground, just before one of the undulating snake heads open mouth full of sharp needle teeth could close on her. She zipped away, giving herself a block of space to think.

Breathing hard, Bubbles frowned at the monster, which had the courtesy of being at least slowed by the sudden impact. Of course, its deceleration could also have been because of Buttercup, who was darting, lighting fast, amongst the heads, giving the occasional smack when one got too close. Blossom was carrying away a sedan filled with kids and their parents. With a blink, Bubbles didn't spare any more time looking to her sisters. She gave herself another block to charge, as the monster even now recovered and was accelerating forward.

This time, Bubbles attacked feet first so she was able to fold her knees as she hit. She pushed off from the monster's pseudo-scales, just as another head tried to snap at her. The teeth were surprisingly white and numerous; nothing at all like a real snake. Out of its reach and another block ahead, Bubbles came in for a third strike, this time low and upwards, like an uppercut to the jaw.

Each blow slowed its speed. Bubbles could see it was having a hard time recovering its velocity down the street which gave Blossom time to carry three more cars to safety. Bubbles turned her gaze again to the monster, who was getting closer. She could see that three of its heads at the "front" was staring at her. Once they saw her looking back, they screamed an atonal challenge at her.

Bubbles took a deep breath. She didn't usually like to do this, but she had been told to slow it down. Bubbles opened his mouth and really _screamed_. The massive sonic blast shattered most of the windows as it traveled down the street, channeled by the buildings between her and the monster. Several cars were rocked on their side, and the city wildlife fled the sound. The effects on the monster were dramatic. Her sonic scream blasted back the snake heads that had been watching her, and the whole ball seemed to writhe in pain. It twitched a few moments, one or two heads looking around befuddled, as if just waking up. As it finally rolled to a halt, winded Bubbles flew up above the rolling mass to meet up with Buttercup.

Buttercup was looking cross, saying, "Whatever it uses for bones, they don't break easy. I can knock the head almost completely around, but I barely even phased it." Bubbles have the breath to respond, still sucking in air. Buttercup was rubbing her left ear in discomfort, which made Bubbles feel a little bad. The pair looked down at the still stunned monster as Blossom made her way up to them.

"Anything else to report? I hadn't time to watch you two." Blossom was looked a little tense, probably because she hadn't been able to watch their progress.

Bubbles spoke up between gulps of air, "The tangled body- is heavy! I hit the-center mass at just below- sonic speed. It barely slowed! It doesn't- seem to like my scream though." She chuckled, happy to see she had an advantage over the monster. The blue-eyed sister's levity fell, however, as the monster already began to recover. It looked agitated too, worse than before, with eleven heads now rising from the sphere of flesh. Several were lashing out at the surrounding buildings, caving in several walls without more challenge than an adult had with a piñata.

Blossom was glaring down at the monster and took only a moment to react, "Bubbles, keep stunning it. Strafing runs with heat, Buttercup."

Buttercup looked happy with the attack plan and replied with a cheerful, "Got it!" The girls broke from their mini-conference. Bubbles moved to the back of the monster, and took in a deep breath. As she did so, the snakes facing her, just two, suddenly retracted, and she screamed. The sound waves battered the snakes. As they extended again, the heads looked a little dazed, but not as affected as before.

Bubbles quickly tried to regain her breath enough for another blast, it took a few seconds. Seconds her sisters didn't have. Blossom and Buttercup were darting along the tops and sides of the snakes, burning red lasers lancing from their eyes. At first, it looked like the sustained heat was going to work against it. The scales on the snakes' coils were all extended, as if in pain. Even faster than before, the snake heads recovered from the aural assault and were snapping at the girls as they flew passed.

Bubbles screamed again as soon as she could. The snakes, all in concert once again, retracted to brace themselves against their massive knotted body. Dazed, they had trouble snapping at the girls flying above for at least a few seconds.

Bubbles could hear Blossom yelling, "Its scales are acting as heat sinks!" Bubbles looked towards where her sisters were aiming their fiery gaze and saw, sure enough, the scales were all fanning the air quickly, the air around hazy from heat.

Buttercup shouted, "I can fix that!" before sweeping down low over the coils on the snake. Bubbles, still trying to catch her breath, saw her sister grip one of burning hot scales and rip it from the monster's body.

She had removed three more of the scales before Blossom yelled, "Buttercup, move!" Two of the snake heads were roaring in pain and coming straight at her green-eyed sister. Buttercup pushed off from the monster, zooming straight up, as the two heads crashed into each other, a tangle of teeth and coils.

Buttercup shouted to Blossom, "Keep burning it! I'll make an empty patch!" and she zoomed down low for another lightning fast pass at the monster. Blossom continued to try to burn through the monster's skin, as Buttercup snatched up a scale on each of her six hyper-fast flights.

It was the seventh scale-grabbing flight that got Buttercup caught. It happened just as Bubbles was about to scream again. Not paying attention to the reptilian head watching Bubbles, Buttercup had no chance to dodge as it suddenly whipped around to swallow her whole. Bubbles shrieked, "BUTTERCUP NOOOOOOOO!" as monster snapped its mouth shut, and was knocked senseless by the sonic blow.

Buttercup was in serious trouble. Bubbles knew that while she and her sisters were strong enough to lift over five tons, they were only a little stronger than a normal human when bound, unable to move. Blossom explained it once, saying that they didn't actually have super strength, but some sort of energy field that magnified their momentum. If the girls were bound, whether in metal shackles or a monster's claws, they couldn't break free unless they were able to move. Buttercup was currently moving down the gullet of the snake and being crushed by its esophagus. They had to save her fast, or she might suffer real damage.

Blossom was flying down to the head, Bubbles just ahead of her. Blossom shouted, "Pin-it-down! I-will-try-to-pry-its-mouth-open!" Bubbles sped up again, arms forward to push the senseless head down into the pavement below. She hit it hard, going faster than Mach two. Much like the center of its tangled mass, the snake head's body was dense and there was only a little give before she started to slow down. But not before the monster's neck and head were slammed into the pavement. The asphalt cracked like an egg. Blossom was already at its mouth, prying it open. "She-isn't-in-here. Try-to-brace-it-against-the-ground!" Blossom spoke in her ultrafast command voice. Bubbles complied, pushing harder against the ground, wondering how much time they had before the other heads recovered.

Blossom's hands were gripping the top of the monster's jaw. Bubbles saw her sister pull hard, away from Bubbles. Blossom was trying to rip the top of the monster's head off. Bubbles, now aware of what her sister was doing, tried to keep the struggling coils beneath her tamed and trapped. Bubbles was thrown off suddenly as the snake coils she held began to thrash wildly and uncontrollably. She bounced off the ground then landed on the sidewalk, shocked for a moment, before looking to see what was happening. Blossom was thrown off as well, and could be seen tumbling through the air, and the monster looked like it was going into a seizure.

That's when Bubbles saw something odd at the neck of this coil where it met the big center of the beast. It looked like it was… bulging? Suddenly, a red light lanced out from the bulge, and began cutting through more of the flesh on the monster. It took only a few moments for Bubbles to guess what was going. She raced raced over to the spot where Buttercup must have been.

All the other heads were also thrashing in pain, and didn't hassle Bubbles as she reached the growing tear in the snake's body. She gripped the edge of the burned meat and pulled hard, knowing that Buttercup was trying to lase her way out. A pink blur showed that Blossom had recovered, as the pink sister appeared to reach into the wound, ignoring the burning pain from the red light. The red light shut off. With a yank, Blossom pulled her green adorned sister free of the monster's neck. Bubbles and her sisters shot straight up, out of the monster's reach.

Buttercup, covered in slime and blue monster blood, was looking pleased as punch, shouting, "Ha! It doesn't have heat sinks on the inside, now does it! Hahaha!" She zoomed over to one of the other heads, now recovering from the pain. Stopping to hover just in front of its face, she challenged, "Come on! Eat me now! I'll eviscerate you all from the inside!"

The snake head was not stupid enough to take the bait, having learned its lesson. It stared at her with much trepidation and with, Bubbles thought, a little fear. One of the other heads came swinging in to slam against Buttercup as she sat still, and she turned to face it. With a well-timed punch, she deflected the head, and levitated up several feet, turning again to face the challenged snake head. Bubbles and Blossom were well out of range of the other heads, watching their sister and waiting for when something went wrong. When the monster clearly wasn't going to eat them again, they knew they had this monster beat.

It took them another hour but the girls kept the upper hand, taking enough scales off to use their heat vision on the body of the beast. With little real resistance left, it wasn't long before it was feebly swinging its heads in its death throes before finally stilling. Bubbles and Buttercup remained in the area to clean up and move the body back into the ocean where it came from. From there, it would either sink further into the ocean, or one of the companies along the docks would try to gather its body to see if any part could be sold. Blossom headed off to survey the rest of the city for criminals. The little criminal element that existed in Townsville usually tried to make their moves when the monsters attacked, as the whole city was usually distracted.

All in all, it was not until nine at night that the girls could make it back home, tired and unwilling to go to the effort of cooking. They stopped off at a Buttercup's favorite Chinese restaurant, taking enough home for the whole family. The house was exactly as they left it. Each of them took a shower, with Buttercup's shower longer than her sisters, for good reason. After that, they went downstairs to get dinner ready.

Bubbles and Buttercup went about the kitchen, setting up the dinner table while Blossom went to get the Professor. The Professor would forget to eat most nights if the girls didn't keep an eye out for him. It was family tradition any more, to eat dinner together, since the Professor had so much work lately. Bubbles knew whatever he was working on stressed him out, because each night his hair would be mussed and oily, as he ran his hand through it.

She could hear him come up from his underground lab, and he appeared in the dining room doorway, "Hey, girls. How went the fight?" How messed up his hair, Bubbles rated, was about a three on a ten point scale, so his work had been going well. He did look tired, however. In the past three years, he had changed more in appearance than the girls had. He there were tired lines under his eyes, a noticeable stubble growing, and there was even a hint of grey in his hair. Work had really picked up in the last year and a half. He was usually working seven days a week anymore, from seven in the morning to ten at night. There were bags under his eyes, and his lab coat was slightly askew and wrinkled. Bubbles wished that he could get more sleep, but more importantly, she wished that he could spend more time with them.

Buttercup spoke up first, as she doled out the Chinese food, "Good! It looked like a giant ball of tangled snakes, and was nearly too wide to fit down Parsnips Avenue. We took it down after the snake thing found out that its dinner bit back." She grinned to herself, still very pleased. She didn't sit down herself until everyone had their food.

The Professor swallowed the bit of eggroll he had been eating, and said with a proud chuckle, "Ha, that's my girls. There's nothing you can't handle." They all sat and ate quietly for a moment, savoring his praise, when Bubbles realized she nearly forgot the big news of the day.

"Oooh! Professor, you got mail today!" She paused, and leaned forward, speaking conspiratorially, "_Mail from Citysville_." She glanced over at the kitchen counter to where the mail sat, still unread.

Professor Utonium frowned a bit, "Hmm… I sent that data dump to their lab almost six months ago. What else could they want?" He put down his fork and stood, moving to the counter to take a look.

Bubbles continued, "No, it's not from Citysville lab. It's from the Chief of Police!" She was a little excited to see what it could be for. Her best, most optimistic, guess was that it was a request for the girls to come back and help with a problem and that the law banning their powers was no longer in effect. She couldn't help but hope it was something so positive. She left the sour thinking to Blossom and Buttercup.

The Professor looked a little uneasy when he saw that Bubbles was right. With a little effort, he opened it, and pulled out the folded up documents, what looked like two or three sheets worth. Their maker began scanning the note, his face turning paler after a few seconds.

The girls asked in sync, "What is it, Professor?"

It took him a moment to respond, still reading the letter, before looking over to them, as if remembering they were there. There was silence.

He finally spoke, a little faint, "I have been summoned to talk to one of their officers next week. You three are requested to come. They might have a few question for you as well, it says."

Dinner finished in almost silence, and the girls headed upstairs for bed. Bubbles looked down at the drawings she had left abandoned. She realized what today's animal must have been. She was right from the beginning. Today was definitely a cat. A black cat. Now, Bubbles knew plenty of black cats, and liked them a lot. None of them ever brought her bad luck. Until now.

Bubbles settled into her spot on the bed, holding Octi, something she only did to ease herself when times were rough, anymore. She couldn't sleep for a long time. All she could think about was the Professor's words and the letter.

Whatever the police chief wanted, good or bad, the letter still seemed bad. The girls were returning to the town of Citysville.


	2. Ch 2: The Town of Citysville

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 2

The Town of Citysville

They were trapped in the car for over an hour. Words could not express how boring it was. _Well, that's not true_, thought Buttercup. She could have spent pages and pages describing how dull the trip was, but her mechanical pencil ran out of lead ten minutes into the trip to Citysville. So she was left watching Bubbles draw or watch Blossom "study" her textbook.

It had taken days for the Professor to decide it was okay for them to skip classes. He was worried that they might miss something important. At least, that is what he claimed. Because each of the girls had different teachers, he had to call each of them and make sure they were all doing fine. _Of course they were doing fine_, Buttercup thought to herself. The girls hadn't needed to actually pay attention in class for years. Buttercup didn't pay attention any more, that was for sure. She would spend the class writing her stories until lunch, then spend the afternoon doing her homework. The Powerpuff Girls had been created with more intelligence than most ten-year-olds. Sure, it had taken them a few years to actually understand how the world worked, but even Bubbles didn't struggle in classes now.

Buttercup stared out the window of the car, watching the streets pass by. Even now they were hitting the outskirts of Citysville, and she felt depressed already. Not a soul in the car forgot their days in this retched town. They were passing over the bridge just a now, rebuilt and busy as ever since the girls had destroyed it without thinking years ago. The thought sent a twinge of guilt through her. With a sigh, she asked, "How long until we get there?" She just had to break the silence somehow.

"According to MapTrips, another ten minutes." Blossom spoke without once looking up from her book. "You need to take the Lexington exit in three more miles, Professor."

The Professor looked towards them and smiled, "Thanks, Blossom… I want you girls to not worry. This is probably a simple matter. Who knows, I might have forgot to pay for a parking ticket." He chuckled lightheartedly, trying to ease their nerves. None of them had the will to tell him that each time he reassured them, they felt more and more apprehensive.

Blossom spoke up again, "I still think it would have been prudent to contact a lawyer." She turned a page and highlighted some passage, then marked the page with a sticky note.

The Professor scoffed, "No, no. I don't think that is necessary. Really Blossom, it will be okay." The turn signal flicked on, and they changed lanes. "You agree, don't you, Bubbles?"

Bubbles paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and chirped up, "Of course! Maybe they want you to help with one of their cases! You might become a consultant to solve their crimes! And a TV show! Detective Professor Utonium!" She giggled at her own ideas.

The Professor laughed with her. "Hahaha, maybe you are right. Wouldn't that be fun, girls?" His voice sounded a little strangled as he nearly missed the exit, swerving to hit the Lexington exit. They did, barely. The traffic was thick here as people went about their daily lives. When the Professor made his lane change, the car behind honked twice, insistently.

Buttercup languished. "Ugh. I hate this town. Everyone here is rude." She sighed, speaking up, "We will be lucky if we can get out of here by nightfall. Five hours or more without being able to do anything more than walk." She shuddered and crossed her arms, continuing to glare out of the window.

Now navigating the complicated streets of Citysville downtown, it took them seven minutes to spot the CPD, but another ten to find a parking spot. It cost ten bucks to park there for an hour or less. Buttercup couldn't bring herself to look at the prices for longer.

They had to walk two blocks to get back to the police department where Daniel Mitternach no doubt waited for them. It was relatively uneventful, but one taxi driver spotted the Powerpuff girls, and nearly hit the car in front of him before braking. Buttercup was pretty sure she stepped in gum on the way as well. The station was seven stories tall, with scuffed, dirty steps leading up to the old and beaten looking entrance. The professor opened the door for the sisters, and they stepped in.

The lobby was a long room, filled with chairs lining the walls. There were a few counters for people to line up at, with two counters open at the moment, one manned by an older ex-cop looking guy, and the other by a mousy young woman. There were over a dozen or so people inside, several sitting down in the chairs, and a few more waiting in line. The interior walls were made of a dark wood paneling until about four feet up. Above that was mostly glass, allowing those in the lobby to see further into the police department. The sound of ringing phones and talking officers filled those back areas. Buttercup was created at 3' 2''. Not having grown an inch since birth and not being allowed to float meant that she couldn't see nearly as far as she could hear.

It looked surprisingly like it did in the TV shows. Dirty, with checkered floors, the lights slightly dim, and there was somber feeling to the building, as if this place had seen its fair share of anger and sadness but had grown hardened to all the emotions. Buttercup felt it would be a great place to write a story about.

No one noticed the Professor or girls at first, but she and her sisters could sense a slow change infect the people as they stood in the doorway. First the people sitting in chairs noticed them, then the man at the desk. As he picked up his phone suddenly, telling the woman he was helping to wait a moment, the whispers started. They were slow but, eventually, they spread, Two or three heads appeared in the glass further into the station, all of them wanting to take a look at the famous Powerpuff Girls and the Professor that made them. Buttercup considered a moment, and remembered their reputation here in the town of Citysville. Perhaps the _infamous_ Powerpuff Girls would have been a better description. Not that she cared. The town could rot for all she minded. It was a horrible place.

The whispering went on for a few minutes as the Professor got in line to announce his arrival. The murmurs were far too numerous for Buttercup to pick up on them all, but many of them had the same awe and fear filled tones. "The Powerpuff Girls…", "…they destroyed the Bridge, didn't they?...", "…such monsters…", "… so small to have defeated…", "… that demon-eyed leader of theirs…" Buttercup glanced sharply at Blossom, to see if she had noticed the last comment. Blossom didn't once bat her rose colored eyes. Buttercup hadn't ever really noticed before how… not-human Blossom's eyes were. Was that what people saw when they looked at their pictures in the news?

The lines hadn't cleared more than a person each when a middle aged man came from the back of the department, opening a glass door to the lobby and holding it opened. He was wearing a nice button up shirt, khaki pants, little cellphone holster, along with his firearm holster. He seemed a little hardened, like he worked the streets before becoming the chief of police. He had a forced amiable smile on to keep up good appearances for the public. He looked at the professor and asked, "Professor Gary Utonium? Please come on back. Sorry to keep you waiting." He seemed reluctant to look at Buttercup and her sisters, only once glancing at them before turning about to lead them back into the station. The whispers died as they were lead back to the man's office. On the door was a metal plaque,

"Chief of Police

Daniel Mitternach"

He opened the door and offered them to enter first. They all stepped in and looked aroud. The shelves along the wall were lined with pictures, awards and books. Buttercup wasn't so interested, but most of them looked like books on law. The walls without book cases were windows as well, letting him survey the floor, and allowing the officers to look in. The desk was nice and big, and there was a comfortable set of chairs this side of the desk, as if for meetings with other officers were common here. He closed the door behind him, and the whispers picked up again beyond the door, but not quite loud enough for Buttercup to pick up on.

The Chief of Police turned to face the Professor, and offered his hand, "It's good to meet you, Professor Utonium. I'm Chief of Police Daniel Mitternach. How are you doing?"

The Professor shook his hand, responding with a little nervous, "Oh, good to meet you too. I am good. Just good. How are you?" He let go of the officer's hand, and asked, almost as an add-on question, "So what is this about, officer?"

Mitternach motioned the Professor to one of the chairs, "Please, have a seat, and call me Daniel. This is not meant as a serious inquiry." He suddenly looked down at the girls who were crowded around the Professor defensively, as if remembering them, "If you girls want to wait outside, I am sure a few nice police men can show you around and show you what important work policemen do all day." He smiled very friendly at them, but they recognized what he was trying to do instantly.

As the girls and Professor took a seat for themselves, Buttercup scoffed while Blossom spoke up to cover it, "No, no, thank you for the offer, Mr. Mitternach, but we are all very interested to hear what you want to ask about. I assure you we won't be any trouble."

He seemed a little taken aback by her eloquence, and Bubbles added on, "We are here to support the Professor. I wouldn't mind learning what police officers do after we finish up, if there is time!"

If Buttercup hadn't been so wary of the whole business, she wouldn't have seen the chief's eyes narrow at something Bubbles said. Buttercup wouldn't have felt Blossom stiffen either. She must have noticed Mitternach's reaction as well. "Well, that's fine, that's fine. You may take a seat as well then. And we will try to settle this quickly." He spoke diplomatically, while he moved behind his desk to sit down in his comfortable looking chair. "Sorry to call you out here rather suddenly, hope it wasn't too much trouble."

The Professor answered his pleasantries a little more easily this time, "Oh, no trouble at all. It was no trouble." Only a _little_ more easily this time. There was an awkward pause.

Mitternack finally went through with his business, "Well, I am sure you are wondering about why I called you here. Actually it has to do with your… girls. I am curious. When was their birth date?"

Buttercup was taken aback by the question. Why would he want to know when they were born? She listened to the Professor stutter through the easy question, adding, "Why would you-"

He was interrupted by Mitternack, "Could you produce their birth certificates at a future date? Just in case we need them?" Buttercup watched the chief of police. His question was soft and amiable, but the raven haired sister thought she could see some sort of sharper edge in his face.

The Professor looked shocked, "I-… No. They don't have any. My girls weren't- ah, conceived in the traditional sense. I never had birth certificates made up." The last words sounded pained, as if he knew how it sounded. Buttercup wasn't particularly worried about it. She didn't care for bureaucratic crap. However, a quick glance at her sisters said something different.

Blossom was blank faced, her poker face she kept when she knew something that the others didn't. Buttercup hated that face. It meant her sister was trying to shield them from the worst. It only occurred when there was something more serious than monsters going on. Family issues and adult matters were the only reasons that expression ever appeared upon Blossom's face.

Bubbles was looking a little hurt. Buttercup imagined she expected more from the Professor. Buttercup felt, slightly, like that herself. She knew that his work kept him busy… but he didn't have time to make up even a birth certificate for each of them?

Chief Mitternach's face was probably the most telling, however. Buttercup did not want to know what his knowing and unhappy look might mean. However, he spoke anyway, "That's unfortunate. So the girls have no mother? Excuse me for asking this rather harsh question. Are your "girls"… are they human?"

Buttercup gasped, about to rise out of the chair. It took all of her control to restrain herself. What was he insinuating? Blossom's voice piped up, suddenly alarmed. "Profes- Father. Father, we should get a lawyer." The amount of concern in her voice was stronger than usual. Buttercup looked at Blossom. She was pale and her face was full of concern, but her pink eyes told Buttercup it was all calculated. Everyone was looking at her, as she continued, "Really. A lawyer, right now, Father. Please."

The Professor seemed completely unaware of what was bothering Blossom. "Not right now, Blossom. I know you are concerned, but I can answer this question." He looked to Mitternach and confidently said, "Yes, absolutely. My girls are absolutely human."

Mitternach nodded, the air about him more predatory, more dangerous. "Would mind that we draw some blood, just to make sure? I believe you were the one that said they weren't conceived naturally. It is standard federal law, and international law, that we make sure that any and all created creatures are not dangerous."

"What did you call us!" Buttercup had enough. She was not going to be called a creature by this man. She and her sisters didn't deserve that.

Blossom shouted up at her, "Buttecup!" but she was not listening.

Buttercup rose above the useless piece of crap that called her a creature. "We save lives! We stop monsters on a daily basis! Just because we are different we don't deserve to be treated like sub-humans, or like children! I have done more to protect my hometown in two days than you have in your life! How many families have you rescued from a monster bent on destroying them?" She stared down at Daniel Mitternach, hovering above the desk, seconds from showing him the kinds of things she could do.

Mitternach's eyes narrowed. He backed out of the desk, and stood, his hands resting on the firearm at his side. "Ma'am. I am going to ask you calmly, once, to restrain your powers. This is a city where all super powers are banned. As you know. If I give the signal, my men will attempt to restrain you. I doubt they could succeed… but I am hoping it won't come to that." There was a smattering of metal clicks from outside the room. Buttercup glanced behind her, towards the window revealing the rest of the station. There were no less than a dozen officers standing and staring at the police chief's office. Some of them were plainclothes, some looked like desk jockeys. All of them had their firearms out and pointing Buttercup.

Blossom spoke her name one more time, "Buttercup." The emerald-themed Powerpuff girl took a breath, and slowly drifted down to the ground. Once she landed, there was more than one sigh of relief from beyond the room. The Professor had been mute for the entire event, looking like a deer in the headlights. Bubbles looked troubled, but was letting Blossom handle it.

Mitternach spoke again. "Thank you for your compliance with the law." He turned his hard, cold gaze on the Professor. "I suggest you follow your 'girl's' advice. Get a lawyer. I won't be getting a hold of you next time." The Professor still couldn't find words, his blocky build stiff with shock, or fear, or both. Mitternach wasn't finished. "I suggest you find a lawyer familiar with child care laws, Professor Utonium… and a lawyer also familiar with the Neo-Tokyo Protocol. The federal government will contactyou soon. You can show yourselves out, no doubt. Have a good day."

There was a pregnant pause, as they all gathered they were being dismissed. The Professor stood up sharply and nodded. He turned around, stiff, and Buttercup's sisters hopped out of the chairs they were in. The Professor opened the door, and the girls stepped out. The police station was silent. There were two phones ringing, but all eyes were on the Professor and the girls. Actually, most of their eyes were on Buttecup, who ignored them. All of their eyes held fear or anger. Buttercup glanced over at Blossom, leading them out of the station. "Blossom," she whispered, "What's the Neo-Tokyo Protocol?"

Blossom gave a terse, short shake of her head. "Not now." She was staring straight ahead, until a pair of people walked into sight. They stood still at the side of the hallway ahead of them, blocking off another hall that looked like it lead to some conference rooms. It was a pair of people, a woman and a man. They both wore off-black suits and carried leather briefcases. The woman was tall and had long black hair, a sharp pointy nose, and eyes like a hawk. Her black eyes followed the girls as they approached. Her mouth was a harsh, straight line. The other man was smiling like the cat imagining each way it might catch the canary. His eyes never looked towards the girls, instead staring out at the nervous officers at their desk, as if he enjoyed the sight. His green eyes were sunken and, along with his thin blonde hair cut military short, made him look like a corpse waiting to happen, though he must have been younger than the severe woman. He was also shorter than her by a foot.

The girls stared down the hawk woman until they passed the pair of them. They left the police department, and once the front door closed, Buttecup could hear a chatter start again, everyone relieved to see the girls to leave. Buttercup opened her mouth again to speak, but Blossom cut her off again, "Not yet."

They walked the rest of the way to the car in silence, the professor still stiff and unresponsive. They got into the car, and he started the engine. He didn't pull out of the parking spot however. Instead, he leaned forward and rested his head on the steering wheel. He was clearly frazzled beyond words. None of them spoke for a minute. Bubbles finally said something, the only thing she could manage. "At least we didn't have to stay here for five hours." Buttercup sighed, exasperated and still confused. The comment seemed to have prompted something from the Professor, who put the car into gear, and started to leave the Town of Citysville. Buttercup wondered what in the world was going on. Why was the chief of police in Citysville concerned suddenly with the humanity of the Powerpuff Girls?


	3. Ch 3: Bridging the Gaps

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 3:

**Bridging the Gaps**

No one said anything else until the Professor had successfully navigated back onto the highway out of Citysville. Buttercup sat sullenly sulking to her left, while Bubbles tried to search for words that would break the uncomfortable silence. Blossom had pulled out the English textbook out before they even left the parking garage. She was nearly finished editing this chapter for errors, and it was weighing on her mind heavily.

Blossom had gotten the idea to edit her textbooks when she saw a small text in the back of her first grade science book with the words, "Please contact us at the following number if any errors in typing are found." Since then, she has always spent the early part of the school year scouring the books for errors, of which, there were many. She would have thought they would better edit these books, as they are for use by young minds easily mislead. It was a nice thing to be able to warn them of their mistakes.

It was the Professor who broke the silence first. They were crossing the Citysville Bridge, rebuilt and brand new. Blossom made a mental note to find out where they got the money to rebuild. Once she heard what the Professor had to say, Blossom wished she had been the one to break the silence. "Well… it's only eleven o'clock. I might be able to get you girls back to class in time for lunch and recess. That sounds nice, right?" The Professor's words were weak, but warm, an attempt to brighten the mood. He said the wrong words this time.

Blossom heard a sharp reply to her left. "We don't take recess anymore." Buttercup was determinedly staring out of the window. Blossom hadn't realized how sullen her sister was feeling. This could end poorly. Blossom quickly tried to think of the words to derail this before it got out of hand. She was too slow.

The Professor spoke up, glancing up at the triplets with his rear view mirror. "What do you mean? I though Pokey Oaks Elementary had recess for up to the fifth grade." He was correctly informed, Blossom wanted to say, but it wasn't what needed to be said. She needed something nice to say before-

"Yes, all elementary students get recess! We just don't go anymore. None of our classmates-"

"Buttercup!" Blossom tried to interject, to cut off her sister before she said something she would regret.

Buttercup was boiling. She was being held down by the seatbelt, and it might have been the only thing that restrained her from shouting louder. "None of our classmates want to play with five year _non_-_humans_ who can beat them at everything! So we all stay inside and I pray for another monster to appear!"

There was a silence. Both the Professor and Bubbles tried to speak up at the same time, "I didn't know it was-" "It's not so bad as she-" They both stopped at the same time. Blossom finally spoke up, thinking she might have found something to help.

"Professor, do you know any really good lawyers?" It was weak, but nothing more could be said on this topic that was particularly nice. Buttercup scoffed disgustedly and Blossom even heard the Professor sigh.

He sounded wistful and hurt, far more hurt than Blossom calculated he would be, "I know you are trying to help Blossom… but maybe we should talk about this issue." Blossom didn't say anything, still surprised by the amount of pain in his voice. Something must have been said that hit a nerve. Blossom watched the Professor in the reflection of the rear view mirror. He looked dejected, watching the road and refusing to look up at the girls. Beside her, Buttercup fidgeted uncomfortably, perhaps the weight of her own shouting now realized.

She was the first one to speak up, in any case. "No. No… I… I'm sorry. I shouldn't… have shouted… Maybe we should talk about more… pressing problems than my playtime gripes." The apology looked like it physically hurt Buttercup, but Blossom knew Buttercup must have noticed the same discomfort in the Professor that her sisters had. Buttercup might be more rash and angry than her sisters but she didn't like hurting her family. After her struggling apology, she added, "What is the Neo-Tokyo Protocol?"

Blossom closed her book. She had finished editing the chapter during the moments of awkward silence. No need to let a good moment go to waste, she felt. "Do you want to answer Professor? Or should I?" She felt herself enter teaching mode. She felt it come over her every time she needed to explain something to her sisters. That, and anything to distract from Buttercup's outburst would be a better topic of discussion.

The Professor looked up at her in the mirror and answered, "You know about the Protocol? Go ahead, Blossom, it has been a while for me." He still sounded like he was reliving some painful memories of the past, which Blossom assumed is why he let her speak instead.

With the permission to lecture given, she began, "We really need to start with the destruction of the original Tokyo before we start on the Protocol. Tokyo Japan was destroyed in the year 2001, by a massive influx of uncontrolled monsters, giant machines and human error. The city had always been plagued by these monsters, mostly because of the lax regulations put on scientists working with dangerous technology. It was a precedent set by the Japanese government itself, as a way to encourage technological growth within their own nation, and to entice economic growth as more and more corporations put their research and development centers in the capital of Japan.

"Most of this research partially culminated in the electronics boom and bust in the 90's, but more relevantly, created the monster crisis of this century. There had been a few issues of loose monsters in the city in the 80's and 90's, most recognizably, Deuzilla, but it all got out of hand at the turn of the millennia. One loose monster created by cobbling together previous monsters would get loose and destroy a nearby lab that was debugging autonomous attack robots which would blow up a containment field for a highly mutagenic virus. By the time the city was leveled, it just a simple fighting ground for monsters and machines and nine million people were lost, almost three times the number of people lost by Japan in the wake of World War Two, civilian and military deaths combined."

Blossom's sense of the dramatic gave her reason to pause on that note just for its significance, as well as so that she could draw in breath. All of this information was fairly common knowledge, though the details had probably never been explained so thoroughly to her sisters. Modern elementary school books seemed to gloss over the details, to protect the innocence of youth. Blossom continued, awe inspiring moment now past.

"Because the monsters were an obvious threat to the rest of Japan and the rest of the world, something had to be done. The United Nations actually united for one cause, and a unique taskforce was created to handle these rogue monsters, the Global Regiment for Extrahuman Management, or GREM, for short. The largest military force ever formed that was independent of any one nation's control. While GREM worked to prevent the spread of monsters and machines from the epicenter of Tokyo, the UN started to work on the Protocol.

"The Neo-Tokyo Protocol, named for the city planned to be rebuilt on Tokyo's remains, established clear and global law that limited scientific research, specifically in the subjects of chemistry, biology and automated robotics. Basically anything functioned without the human element involved was considered under review. Any corporation working with the reviewed subjects had to get certified by one of the five-member councils set all around the world. A five member review boards were set up in every major country, with smaller countries grouped together to form one council. Any laboratory working without the correct certification was to be closed down, immediately. The company involved with the lab is severely fined, as well as the nation of origin in some cases, and usually there is a serious threat of jail for the scientists. The penalties for transgressions are far worse for those whose experiments get out of hand. Jail time for a minimum of ten years is standard, if no one dies. The penalty of death for scientists whose work kill people is not an uncommon verdict.

"The most significant details of the Protocol were two important details. It empowered GREM to be the enforcer for all "out-of-control" forces unleashed by any lab anywhere on the planet, whether the nation was part of the UN or not. It also only gave until 2006 for all certifications to be ratified before enforcement began. Because the Neo-Tokyo Protocol was codified in 2003, it gave government and corporate labs only three years to be certified by these boards, which had to be composed of individual members, each of a different nationality and with no ties to any national government."

Blossom paused again for another breath, and to let her sisters absorb the information. She didn't know how long it would take them to catch up, but waited at ten seconds before she continued.

"This time crunch was intense, as there was a burgeoning advance in science everywhere at the turn of the millennium. Three years was simply not enough to ratify every lab on Earth. So one of two things happened. The labs disappeared underground, usually literally, or the lab work was abandon. Many of the labs that went underground and rogue were government works, and others were ones that would never be certified under the new laws. When a lab was abandon, however, one could not just board up the windows. If the labs were later found to contain contraband science ill-kept, they would be persecuted under the full extent of the law. So most of these labs simply destroyed all of the physical aspects of their work, keeping the data they could. The rest of them, on the other hand, simply destroyed evidence that could trace the work back to their origins and then illegally dumped their work. Of course, dumping the works within a nation was extremely illegal, so most of these works with mutagens, viruses, monsters and chemicals was simply dumped in international waters.

"A fraction of these experiments survived in any real capacity… but the number of nations and businesses doing this was astronomical. The ocean beds all around the world have become the breeding grounds for all forms of monsters. And these monsters are what wash up on the peaceful shores of Townsville."

She had tried to nicely explain all of this before to her sisters, but they seemed uninterested in the topic. History has always been a passion for Blossom, of course, so she stopped wasting her time trying to teach her sisters, and spent the time reading more.

She was done for now, letting her sisters absorb all of her important information. During her long-winded but essential description, she stopped paying attention to her fellow travelers. She looked to each side, both of her sisters appearing deep in thought, the green sister distinctly annoyed, and the blue sister distinctly troubled. The Professor appeared almost sick with worry. No doubt he was the only one in the car who just how much trouble he might be in. Honestly, the word "trouble" was twenty magnitudes too small for how serious things had become.

Buttercup was the first to speak. "So… are you done for now?" She seemed hesitant to ask, as if worried Blossom would snap at her for interrupting.

Blossom nodded, "Do you have any questions?" She was ready to answer all of their questions about the massive controversy these councils caused, along with the existence of GREM. She had read more than one book on this topic, considering how relevant it was to their monster fighting work.

Buttercup spoke again, slowly at first, "So… let me get this straight… The Professor is being persecuted for the creation of monsters and might be executed for creating us?"

Before Blossom could answer such oversimplification of the topic, Bubbles added on, "And even if we prove him innocent of violating the Neo-Tokyo Protocol, and we are declared non-monsters… the Professor could still face time in jail for not properly taking care of us as children?"

Blossom was stunned. At first she was annoyed about the pair of them taking all of her words and breaking them down into two sentences… but she hadn't thought about what Bubbles was saying. _"I suggest you find a lawyer familiar with child care laws, Professor Utonium."_ Wasn't that what Mitternach had said? _Oh, by all that is… they were insidious… evil… brilliant, _was all Blossom could think. Even if the girls could remove every allegation that the Powerpuff Girls were monsters created in violation of the Neo-Tokyo Protocol and prove that they were young human girls with a few extra talents, the Professor would just face another trail for child abuse, neglect and whatever else they could imagine.

The Professor spat a few words out. "I… I need to stop for a moment." They were at a stretch of highway between Townsville and Citysville, an exit to a gas station and McEatie's just a mile away. They were still a good twenty minutes from home.

Even Blossom's massive lexicon of words couldn't adequately describe the horrible green color that was plastered over the Professor's visage. She didn't know the human skin could actually turn that color. They got on the exit ramp to the stop in the middle of nowhere. Violating more than one traffic law, the Professor turned rapidly into the gas station parking lot and thrashed at the seat belt release to get free. The driver's car door was thrown open violently, and he dashed into the gas station, presumably to the bathroom.

Abandoned in the car, front driver's door still wide open, the Powerpuff Girls sat. They looked at each other, and away. None of them could summon up any words that would minimize the terrifying picture painted by the simple meeting this morning. Blossom had woken at four in the morning with a dark, knotted stomach, like she knew that today would end up being one of her worst, but her mind refused to think about it. At worst, Blossom thought they were going to be asked to pay back the money for destroying the bridge, or that something in the Professor's contract to work for one of the Citysville labs was incorrectly executed.

It seemed like hours before the Professor came back. Blossom's internal clock told her it was more like six minutes, but cold hard logic was difficult to face in times of immense stress, even for the ever-mindful Blossom.

The Professor's face and hair were completely wet, though there appeared to have been attempts to dry both. He looked like a man reluctantly facing his execution, and trying to keep on a strong face for the press. Or, more likely, he was trying to keep a strong face for his girls.

He got in the car and closed the door. The car had been left running in the interim, and none of the sisters had the willpower to turn it off, each of them thinking their dreaded thoughts.

It was another long dead silence as they got back on the highway. Traveling back to Townsville, it wasn't until they were nearly about to get off the highway a few miles from their home that Blossom finally spoke up. "Professor… I think I know of a few lawyers that can help on this. They do Neo-Tokyo Protocol cases like this. There was one, Cyrus Standsfeld that has a very good record." She swallowed, and Bubbles picked up where Blossom left off.

"We can get another lawyer for whatever else they bring up. We can get a lot of support from Townsville as well. We can-"

Buttercup cut her off, "We should just leave. Run and be gone forever. We can grab our stuff at home, and just fly away. Nothing is irreplaceable. Only grab the vitals, and we can fly you away, Professor. Leave them all to rot."

No one spoke anything. All of them considered the idea. As they turned down the street towards their home, Blossom could hardly believe that she was considering Buttercup's illegal plans, but it looked better with every passing second. They rounded the bend that would put their home into sight and saw the miniature tanks, barricades and soldiers crowding the entire block.

They were all hard, almost brutal-looking, men in armor that fit them like an exoskeleton, with metal plates adorning the entire surface. Each carried long-barreled rifles that looked futuristic and ready to kill. The minitanks had cannons that looked capable of destroying any one of the homes along the street, but maneuverable to move through any terrain. A particularly large number of them gathered around one house in particular. Their home. Each of the men had four large white letters emblazoned upon their back. G.R.E.M.

The Professor, already long spotted by the men, couldn't very well back away and go back the way they came. He rolled towards the barrier, an agony on his face. He stopped next to the large sign saying

"All traffic is to be inspected.

Slow Now."

A GREM soldier stepped up to the Professor's slowly descending window and said, "License and Regist-" He stopped. The young but serious-faced man looked at the Professor's face, then into the back seat where the sisters sat.

He took several steps back all at once, his rifle suddenly gripped in hand. While the weapon wasn't quite yet pointed at the car, the threat was obvious. He shouted, "All of you step out of the car! Hands over your head, with no sudden movements! Now!"

Blossom saw a transformation flash over the soldiers milling about. Guns were leveled in the direction of the car. The soldier shouted again, "Step out of the car, NOW!"

Blossom should have guessed that they would move this quickly. The Powerpuff Girls and their Professor were now being taken into custody of the Global Regiment for Extrahuman Management.


	4. Ch 4: Grim Diplomacy

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 4:

Grim Diplomacy

Buttercup had never seen such a large collection of high powered firearms in the hands of capable soldiers. Except for in movies. She had nothing to fear from the bullets but for the fact they would knock her around if she wasn't careful. The grenade launchers mounted beneath the barrels of the gun, on the other hand, would stun her for at least a few moments, but not cause any lasting pain. Buttercup wasn't sure how much damage the canon from their urban combat tanks would do, but it couldn't be worse than all the innumerable monsters she had to fight in the past.

It wasn't herself Buttercup had to worry about. She wasn't even worried about her sisters. Blossom had shown herself to be very adept at using her powers in self-defense, and Bubbles has revealed a well of nigh unimaginable strength in times of great duress. It was only a month ago that, when she heard the terrified screaming of a baby abandoned in the street, Bubbles had broken free of the telekinetic hold by a psychic chimera and ripped two of its heads off. Buttercup, Blossom and Bubbles could all handle themselves. Buttercup was worried about the Professor.

Blossom didn't spend enough time impressing upon them just how… capable these GREM soldiers actually were. These were men who had to fight monsters on a regular basis. Men, without superpowers. The idea boggled her mind. The idea that an average citizen of Townsville could take up arms against the monsters of the city, it was ridiculous. These warriors had their weapons trained on her, her sisters, and most importantly, the Professor. Buttercup was beginning to see that, whether or not she accepted the idea of a mortal fighting monsters, these men were willing to put the idea to the test.

The people in the car slowly unbuckled their seatbelts and opened the doors of the car. Buttercup slowly slid off of the seat and out of the car to the right, Blossom following her. Bubbles was alone on the other side car, though Buttercup assumed she would be fine. Buttercup watched the soldiers, many of them adjusting their aim downwards at the three foot tall sisters. A shift went over the dozen or more soldiers. Buttercup tried to understand what it meant.

A few of the soldiers looked uncomfortable aiming their rifles at the girls. What were they thinking, Buttercup wondered. "_Was there a mistake? They can't be more than five years old… how can they be the enemy here?_" Buttercup could only guess. However, for every almost sympathetic face, there were three more faces that looked all the more angry and intense when they saw the girls. These men looked older, and one or two had scars on their face. They have fought the same wars that Buttercup and her sisters had. Buttercup was guessing, of course, but she was getting the idea that these men have seen their brothers in arms die. They had no trouble leveling their sights on the likes of the Powerpuff Girls.

Each of the Utonium family had their hands above their head, and were very, very careful not to make any sudden movements. The soldier who had raised the alarm spoke again, "Walk slowly to the front of the car, and line up next to each other. You are being taken into custody, Mr. Utonium, as dictated by article five of the Neo-Tokyo Protocol. Everything you say and do can be held against you. Your possessions and research are forfeit until a determination is made about if you have violated the Protocol. You have been indicted..." As the man continued to speak, the sisters and Professor followed his directions, walking slowly to the front of the car, where it ended up that they stood in a line before the bulk of the soldiers. Buttercup and Blossom stood to the Professor's left, while Bubbles were was at his right.

The words continued, but all Buttercup focused on was what was happening further down the street. She could see a citizen of Townsville step out from the green painted home at the end of the street.

It was Mr. Tandem, a happily married house-husband. He had occasionally bought the girls treats for the girls when the ice cream man came by while the girls dealt with issues in the city. He was a nice man, though a little on the weighty side. He looked like he just woke up from his mid-morning nap, and was only now seeing the small military blockade. It was sufficed to say that he looked horrified. He had a cell phone in hand, and was talking. With a little effort, Buttercup could hear it. He was talking to his wife, who

worked as a judge for criminal processing in the city. Buttercup couldn't make all of the words out, but it was clear that he was upset. Who wouldn't be, seeing tanks down the street, and soldiers pointing guns at the Powerpuff Girls?

It was upsetting, but Buttercup couldn't see anything she could do about it right now. The man who had ordered them out of the car was now on the radio strapped to his shoulder, requesting transports for their prisoners. That is when Buttercup heard it. The Hotline, their direct line to the mayor, was buzzing its clarion call from within the house.

It was Buttercup's folly. She hadn't let that phone ring more than twice in the last year and a half. She had grown more and more eager to fight monsters since she was kicked off of the soccer league for "Unusual and Unsporting Advantages." That phone was calling to tell her she can escape the mind-numbingly dull, normal world.

She lowered her hands for a moment, and began to sprint to the phone, which had only buzzed once. Then she heard the clicking noises. Each rifle wielded by the platoon of soldiers was now focused on the body of a girl in a green dress. Safeties off, even the soldiers who had seem reluctant to aim at the soldiers were ready to fire.

Buttercup put her hands in the air again, frozen in the spot, only three paces from where she started. Her arms slowly raised, as she was worried even a quick movement would startle them into shooting. She spoke, trying to placate their fears. "I… I was just going to answer the Hotline… The mayor… he calls when there is a monster attacking the city… People might get hurt..." The phone was buzzing, three times, four, before any soldier responded.

A tall older man stepped out from behind one of the mini-tanks. He had brown spiky hair, shaved military short, with a streak of white running along the sides. He stood there, the only soldier without a weapon in hand, about fifty feet away. He had a rifle; he just hadn't raised it yet. He spoke, saying with a calm voice, "GREM soldiers are seizing control of the coasts all along Townsville. We already have men dealing with the threat downtown. Please return to your place in the line, Buttercup."

Listening closely now, Buttercup could hear the faint electronic sound of a radio, which came from his ear. He was definitely the man in charge here. Even more distant, Buttercup could hear the Hotline stop buzzing while the man spoke. Fifteen buzzes, and she never got to answer it. Buttercup realized she had nowhere else to go except back in line, in front of the car. Arms still above her head, she returned to her place at Blossom's side. The green-eyed heroine would have given anything, even her "blankie", to not be here, and off fighting the monster. Instead, she looked at this new man, wondering who in the world he was.

* * *

Once Buttercup returned to her place, the man continued, his eyes locked with Blossom's. "I know who each of you are, though I realized you may not know who I am. I am the General Steven Grimaldi, of GREM." Blossom knew who Grimaldi was. There was more than one book written on the man's accomplishments. He was not universally loved… but he has never expressed an interest in public relations. "I am the operations commander of GREM, currently focused here. I will not soften any blows. I am here to take you three and your maker into custody."

His gaze never left Blossom. He was talking to all of the girls, but he knew who lead the sisters. "My men and I know for a fact that the Powerpuff Girls could kill us all in seconds. We do not stand a chance against you. We cannot threaten you with rifles and tanks. However, if you cause any trouble, we have no less than five snipers trained on your maker." Instantly, Buttercup and Bubbles began to look around for the hidden marksmen. Blossom continued to watch General Grimaldi.

"This is not a threat, just a warning, even a little bit of a plea. Please just go along with our pitiful means to jail you. It will not last long. Already, someone at the mayor's office is pulling the right political strings to free you until the trial. You will be out before you know it."

Buttercup and Bubbles already had calmed down, though both were obviously uneasy. Utonium continued to glance around, but he was afraid to move. "This trial is going to happen. If you three rebel, then lives will be lost. My understanding is that you three have alone kept this city safe for three years, even as the ferocity of attacks on the city have worsened. If you three are truly on the side of humanity… stay your weapons." He seemed finished for the moment, but added on one last comment. "Know this, I have fought superheroes "gone bad" in other cities and while you girls might be invulnerable, you are not in_vincible_."

He paused, a gruffness suddenly filling his words, "Now that… is a threat." Blossom gazed into the depth of those brown eyes. She saw something there that she hadn't seen before. She wanted to know what this man thought, but as he peered back into her eyes, she knew nothing she could say would be nice. She only stared back, silent, passive and ready.

* * *

Bubbles, by nature, was not a worrier. In her carefree opinion, the "Now" was always the most important moment in time. What happened in the past was inaccessible to change and what will happen in the future universally defined by the present. She didn't get upset very often because by the time she was annoyed by something, it has already past, beyond her control. On most days, the furthest forward Bubbles worried was about whether or not she should bring apple or grape juice to lunch.

Blossom's behavior has worried Bubbles for more than eight months now. It took the blond sister a long time to recognize there was something wrong with her hair-bow-adorned sister. As time passes, Blossom has become more and more introverted. She was silent for hours at a time and only spoke when spoken to in school. By contrast, Buttercup wore her emotions right on her sleeve. The Professor's state of mind could be seen in his hair, which was almost as mused as it was the time he was in Citysville. Blossom was Pandora's Box, infinitely calm on the outside but with an immeasurable storm of something ominous within.

So as Bubbles watched the staring match between General Grimaldi and Blossom, her concern rose exponentially with every moment. Ten seconds passed before she decided to act. Imitating a phrase she remembered hearing from one of Buttercup's movies, the most optimistic sister spoke in her clear childlike voice, "Permission to speak freely, General sir?"

It took a second, but some spell shattered, and Grimaldi broke his stare with Blossom and flicked his gaze to Bubbles. He tilted his head back, before turning to face his new target. "Yes, absolutely. For now, we would just prefer you not move too quickly. My crack-shots are jumpy." He almost managed a smile, but Bubbles could see he didn't have any real friendly intentions behind it.

Bubbles continued, while Blossom remained silent. "It sounds like we are being taken prisoner and awaiting trial. We are being treated like convicted criminals after breaking out of jail. If you have handcuffs in, um, our size, we would be happy to put them on as a show of peace. Can we put down our arms? 'Cause, otherwise, I am going to have to start waving at the people behind you, which might startle someone."

Bubbles carefully motioned to the crowd slowly gathering down the street, watching the goings on from thirty or so yards away. It was clear the people were afraid to come even closer, but their chatter was become loud enough for Bubbles to hear very clearly. The crowd must have been gathered by Mr. Tandem. It was clear that word was spreading throughout Townsville. GREM was not just fighting the monsters downtown, but also the Powerpuff Girls in their own neighborhood.

The general took a look back behind him, then back to Bubbles, who smiled brightly. He nodded, and said, "Yes, no need to make this anymore a spectacle than it already will be. We don't have handcuffs for you girls yet, but Mr. Utonium should have some. Private Anderson, if you would?" The soldier who had yelled at them to exit the vehicle nodded, as, for the first time that Bubbles had noticed, Grimaldi looked at the Professor. Private Anderson pulled out a set of standard-looking handcuffs. Approaching the Professor, who offered his hands to soldier, the private put the cuffs on the Professor.

The Professor was beyond words, it seemed. It wasn't past one o'clock yet, but his quiet world inside the lab was gone. Bubbles felt for him. Her sisters were not the only ones to suffer as his workload increased over the years. Bubbles wanted to stop thinking so hard about how badly things were spiraling out of control, but right _now_, she had to finish what she started.

The girls slowly lowered their hands, and Bubbles continued to grin her sunshine grin at the general, "Could we talk amongst ourselves right now? I know it won't be private, but your radio man said that the prisoner transport wouldn't be here for another ten minutes, and, well, us just standing here watching your soldiers watch us isn't, like, a very calm environment." She glanced at the soldiers still bearing their rifles in the direction of the Utonium family. She had been listening to the radio traffic for a long time. If any element of nature was to be claimed by the Powerpuff Girl in the blue dress, sound was that element.

Grimaldi had blinked when Bubbles mentioned that she could hear the radio then also glanced at his soldiers. He spoke up, "You are right. Snipers, stay on alert, but everyone down here with me, at ease." He must have had a radio transmitter somewhere on his uniform with the same metal armor that his soldiers had, but for a small emblem the left side of his chest that had a star with lines beneath it. Bubbles guessed it told everyone else he was the general. She knew very little about military ranks. Grimaldi looked back at the girls once the men surrounding them lowered their weapons. "Go ahead. Talk amongst yourselves. Just don't make any sudden movements."

Bubbles took a mental sigh of relief. Well she had done her work, now the other girls needed to think about what to do next. Planning just wasn't her forte.

* * *

Buttercup was rather impressed at Bubbles' work. It was almost something she would have expected from Blossom. Though, honestly, she wasn't sure what moment Grimaldi and Blossom had, but something happened there.

At ease, she crowded a little closer to her sister and the Professor to talk. She knew they were going to be listened in on, but for now, she was fine with that. She broke in with the first comment, "Nicely done, Bubbles! When did you become such a badass diplomat?" Buttercup instantly glanced at the Professor, who was ever so slowly coming out of his former trance. He didn't seem to notice her swearing, but she wouldn't count on that for long. He must not handle having guns aimed at him very often.

Bubbles put her arms behind her back and scuffed her shoe on the ground, "Um… you know. I have my moments too, I guess." Buttercup rolled her eyes at the modesty, but didn't interrupt as Bubbles continued, "So… what now?"

Blossom answered, "We wait. We can't do anything until we are free of prison. Until our ally in the Mayor's office gets us free, we don't have much choice. Once free, our options increase extensively. We get a lawyer, we gather information, we find out how to slow down the process from within." Buttercup nodded as Blossom spoke. Ever the tactical expert, Blossom always knew what to do in a battle. Apparently legal battles were not outside of her capabilities.

Buttercup looked to her house, seeing that a few men in hazmat suits were entering the home. "What are they doing? What, do they think that we are radioactive or something?" She was annoyed at the level of disrespect they were getting. She and her sisters were not monsters! Maybe they had some extra powers, and possibly some growth issues… but nothing they have done should earn them this level of distrust.

It was a surprise when the Professor spoke first with a calm though saddened tone. "They are seizing all the work in my lab. GREM policy is to assume that there is already something dangerous loose in my lab. In their first year, they lost several of their men to a sentient disease that got loose, and another time a mutagen transformed one of their men into a monster they had to fight. This all was before you girls were born. So they are now inside seizing my computers and work." He sighed, "I think it is safe to say… I won't make my deadline for this month."

Buttercup blanched, "Are they going to take our computer too?" That would be bad. Oh so bad.

The Professor nodded, and smiled sadly at his girls, "Sorry, Buttercup. They are probably worried that I might have hidden something secret on your computer, and will look it over all the more carefully."

Buttercup felt sick, "Oh no."

Buttercup looked sick. Bubbles wasn't sure what it could be until she realized what could make her sister look more green than she usually does. "Oh, Buttercup. I am so sorry. It looks like someone besides your sisters will know your secret." Bubbles held a face of concern and sadness, knowing Buttercup wouldn't take well to having her secret passion discovered.

The Professor inquired, "Secret? What secret?"

Bubbles looked up at Professor and answered him softly while putting her hand on Buttercup's back, "She write stories based on cartoons and movies." When Buttercup started getting excluded from school ground games, she had to find an outlet. She had never been much for studying, nor had she been interested in the same creative outlets Bubbles had. Instead, she found a home in writing stories and posting them online.

Once a month, she would go zooming around the house with another amazing idea for a story. Because both Blossom and Bubbles understood that if they tried to quash this creativity that Buttercup would quickly run out of hobbies, they let her have the computer most often, so she could write her fan stories.

Buttercup seemed unfazed by Bubbles admission, which surprised the blue-eyed sister. The Professor seemed more shocked than anyone, however, "Buttercup, you write stories? I don't think that-"

Buttercup ignored the Professor for a moment, still looking positively devastated. She interrupted him, whispering, "No… it's not that… It's… Some of those stories… they aren't meant for… for anyone else to read." She looked at her two sisters, at the Professor then at the ground, turning red with embarrassment.

* * *

Bubbles had no idea what Buttercup was talking about. Why would she write a story for no one else? She looked at Blossom, who seemed as puzzled as Bubbles. It was the Professor who suddenly said, "Oh. Ooooh, you don't mean…" He moved to stand in front of Buttercup, kneeling down on one knee to look into her large green eyes. "Listen, Buttercup, it will be okay. It doesn't matter what they find… None of us care. We are here for you. I am here for you."

His gaze traveled to each of the Powerpuff Girls, appearing to be far more together than he had for hours. "Girls… I am starting to think that I have been missing something important happening to you three… As my work has piled up these last two years-" he stopped himself and shook his head, "But that is no excuse. Today, I have learned more about you three than I have in the last year… Buttercup, you are a human being and you _deserve_ to have recess. Blossom, your intelligence is astonishing; soon I will be asking you to explain things to me. And, Bubbles, you are so strong; not even I could stand up to the general like that." His voice trembled a little as he looked to each girl when he spoke.

His final words had an emotion Bubbles had not heard in his voice for a long time: genuine respect. "You three are growing up. I… I am sorry I haven't noticed until now." He looked at them, as if begging for forgiveness, and he was clearly on the verge of crying. Tears welled in Bubbles' eyes. She saw a similar reaction in Buttercup, who had more to gain from the Professor's words than even Bubbles had.

Bubbles was always had faith that the Professor would see the changes, that he would see that they were different, but now that he had seen the change, it was more than she could imagine. For two years they had stayed the same physically. For two years they had grown so much older, mentally. The Professor opened his arms to give them the hug they had always needed. Each of them pressed into his arms, giving him a hug back.

Once the family got over this hurdle, they could all be a happy family again. They didn't have to act like nothing had changed anymore. Buttercup could be herself, Blossom would open up, and Bubbles wouldn't need to worry about them anymore. The hug lasted for at least a minute, then the Professor stood up, and the Utonium family waited for the transport to arrive.

* * *

Blossom's mind was solely focused on what needed to be done next. While they were at Townsville Prison, and they were surely headed to the prison, they could interview each of the criminals there. Some of their longest villains from their past have mellowed in the last few years, but some have not. There have even been some recent villains who she was eager to interrogate. Grimaldi was not necessarily a saint, but he was a good guy and on the side of human kind. Someone had to be pulling his strings.

Blossom knew a plot when she saw one. This was all far too elaborate for a coincidence. They hugged and waited, but Blossom was always thinking ahead. Where was their adversary going to strike next?


	5. Ch 5: Rules of Engagement

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 5:

**Rules of Engagement**

The transport that was brought in to carry the Utonium family was the same bus that the Townville Prison used, a shorter bus that would transport about twelve prisoners, with three guards in tow. From the outside, the bus appeared similar to a school bus, excluding the dull grey paint coating it, and the windows that wouldn't go down. There was already a driver and one guard inside. The bus trundled up to the same spot that Professor Utonium's car had been previously, until one of the guards drove it past the barrier and into the driveway.

The Utonium family had little to say after the hug, but once the bus arrived, they looked to their captors for directions. Grimaldi had disappeared back behind one of their mini-tanks, speaking very quietly, so that the girls couldn't overhear. He had gotten something to create white noise, something like another radio, so that his words were nearly impossible to discern at such a distance. Once the bus arrived he reappeared, and said, "Okay girls, and Mr. Utonium, into the bus if you would. Private Anderson, please join them."

The crowd slowly gathering, had earned itself a few news reporters by now. Even now, photos and video were being sent to the nearest news station, as well as uploaded to the internet by interested bystanders. Bubbles nervously looked around before raising her hand to wave slowly and cheerfully at the cameras. Her grin appeared contagious, and several onlookers smiled and waved back, all while recording the spectacle on their phones.

The professor entered the bus first, and was directed to sit in the first seat, on the opposite side of the driver. Next, followed Buttercup, Bubbles and Blossom , though none of them were ordered to sit somewhere specific. Bubbles and Buttercup sat behind the Professor, and Blossom sat across from him, just behind the driver. Private Anderson stepped into the bus, and turned to the Professor. He pulled out a separate set of cuffs, apparently having a collection in his belt pouch. With the Professor's cooperation, he chained the center of his cuffs the bar bolted in front of the first seat. Anderson then took the seat behind Blossom and beside Buttercup and Bubbles.

The guard at the back of the bus, six rows back from the driver, was stoic, and watched them all board with only little interest. The driver never once looked from the blockade in front of the bus, seeming wholly fascinated by the sight, and uninterested in those he was transporting. After everyone had settled, some unseen signal was given, and the bus was off.

Buttercup looked around the bus, a smirk on her face as she recalled, "This bus hasn't changed once in the last eight months."

The comment elicited a reaction from the Professor, who looked back at his ebony-haired daughter, "What do you mean, it hasn't changed? When have you been in a prison bus?"

Buttercup blanched, glancing at Bubbles, who shook her head, unwilling to help her green-dressed sister. Buttercup looked back up at the Professor, "Um… We had been asked to help the Townsville Prison transport some of the inmates. You know… as an escort, to keep the prisoners in line. I rode in the bus with the prisoners, while Bubbles and Blossom watched from above… We, ah… didn't tell you because you had been so busy getting that report together for the Citysville lab. Uhhhh… Sorry?" She tried to look apologetic, though she was certain it did not come off as well as she would have liked. She could tell because the professor did not look pleased.

"Girls… you can't keep secrets from me. We are a family. I may have been a little busy, but I want to know when my girls are in danger." He tried to run his fingers through his hair, halted by the cuffs, and said, "It looks like there are more than a few things I need to talk to you girls about."

Buttercup was determined to defend herself even if she felt it might have been safer to keep quiet, "Oh, but Professor, we fight monsters all the time. We can handle a few hu-" She caught herself, pausing, before, saying, "-A few men who are up on burglary charges."

Bubbles finally came to Buttercup's defense, "And we won't do it again without asking first!" Buttercup nodded eagerly, thankful for the save.

The Professor shook his head, sighing. "We will talk about it next time, should it come up again."

As the Professor and the girls were speaking, the bus had been rolled through the barricade to the other side, so it could make its way onto the city streets. The gathering crowd had been herded off the road, so the bus could pass. Bubbles smiled and waved at the people as they passed, causing those outside to return the gestures. Buttercup sighed, being closest to the window with Bubbles leaning over her. She felt the urge to either switch seats with her, or join her in waving at the crowd, just to keep it from being awkward. Resting her right elbow against the frame of the bus window and her head against her fist, she lifted her left hand to wave at people as well, looking only slightly less glum than she felt.

They soon made it out onto the streets, and Bubbles clambered back to sit on her own spot on the seat again. As she did so, Blossom spoke up.

* * *

"What measures do you have that keep us from flying away with the Professor now? The delay must have been because you were preparing something." Blossom stared at Private Anderson, who was the only known factor among the soldiers now with them. She had to turn in her seat to do so, but the last thing Blossom was concerned about was rider safety at the moment. Even she had her limits, and she could invest only so much of her attention to inconsequentialities.

Private Anderson had been staring at Bubbles and Buttercup, though had focused on Blossom when she turned to face him. He stayed quiet for a moment, as if considering answering her question.

The young man, still fully armed and armored, spoke softly, surprisingly so, given his earlier shouting, "There is enough C4 strapped to the base of Mr. Utonium's seat to incinerate the entire bus." Blossom could see, out of the corner of her eye, Bubbles looking alarmed, and pulling her feet onto the seat, as if remove herself further from the bomb, "There are four people with triggers. If at any time three of them feel like you might escape due process, then they have been ordered to ignite the device."

His serious tone was slightly lightened, as he added, "So, please don't try to escape. It's not just Mr. Utonium's life at stake here. No human on this bus is likely to survive the blast."

Blossom nodded. It was a good plan. They knew far more about her sisters and herself than Blossom knew of them. She would have to think of another plan for now.

* * *

It was quiet for a moment after Anderson finished speaking, when the Professor spoke up, "Wow, you gremlins are as unrestrained and vicious as they say." The Professor blinked, then immediately began to speak up, "Oh! I am so sorry, I didn't mean to be rude or anything, um. I, ah..."

Buttercup leaned past Bubbles, to look at Blossom, asking in a low tone, "Gremlins?"

Blossom had opened her mouth to answer, but Anderson spoke first. ""Gremlins" is a term that most others refer to Global Regiment for Extrahuman Management soldiers. It is meant as an insult, usually, but all of Grimaldi's soldiers proudly use the term." His gaze moved from Buttercup to the Professor, "So don't worry about it. I take it as a compliment. Vicious is a virtue when fighting monsters hell-bent on mankind's destruction."

Bubbles spoke up then, in her smaller, sad voice she used when realizing something bad was going on, "So are we really just monsters to you? I… I don't think we have ever killed anyone. We occasionally get… you know… out of hand, but we have only damaged property, even then." Buttercup had returned to sitting against the seat, so she could only see the back of Bubbles' head. But Buttercup could guess how her sister looked.

Bubbles was likely staring up at Private Anderson, her cuteness meter maybe at eighty percent, her big blue eyes portraying all the innocence of a five year old. Which wasn't necessarily completely untrue, but Buttercup (and Bubbles for that matter) was old enough to know that not all people were friendly, and that Bubbles' act was mostly just that, an act. Bubbles knew the difference between being naïve and playing naïve. It just so happened that she was a little of both.

Buttercup was not about to call out her sister. It wasn't like the act was a bad thing. The green sister herself was interested in what Anderson had to say. She was tired of being suddenly treated like a sub-human. Or, even worse, a non-human.

To his credit, Anderson didn't answer immediately. Of course, he might have been worried about what would be recorded, so he needed to edit himself carefully. "We have dealt with a more than a few monsters that were of human intelligence before. No… not human. The monsters were extremely brilliant and cunning but utterly alien. Artificial intelligences, created beasts, even a silicon based life-form. Some spoke English. Some even appealed to the emotional heartstrings of the soldiers sent to contain them. All of them thought they were beyond the law because they were more than human. All of them, however, expected to be treated as well as human beings when they were faced by GREM. How are you girls different?"

They were all quiet for the rest of the trip. Private Anderson words hung over the air. None of them could find anything else that was appropriate to break the silence.

They were processed at Townsville Prison and, despite the Professor's growing concern, the girls were friendly with the guards who took over the duty of taking care of the Utonium family. This actually seemed to please the Gremlin soldiers even less than the Professor. Still, it was hard to not feel, if not comfortable, at least familiar, with the jail they so often had to visit.

* * *

Bubbles was interested to see how Mojo Jojo was doing. He was getting older, and seemed to be mellowing in his years. Occasionally he would create a new Death-o-matic device, but any more, after that volcano monster destroyed his base, the monkey seemed to have lost much of his drive to destroy, his last attempt more of a joke than anything.

The Gangreen Gang were all tried as adults in their latest racketeering and extortion attempt, so they should be locked up here too. They hadn't much improved over the years. They started expanding their members soon after they realized the five of them were not much of a threat. There were still members of their expanded gang on the street, causing trouble for the cops whenever they could.

Sedusa was serving time for trying to steal the Hope Diamond when it visited Townsville. The Amoeba Boys had politely informed the girls in a letter that they decided to move to another city with a more "Gangster" feel. The Rowdyruff Boys were incarcerated in a prison across the country which was made for super-powered villains. And Him… Bubbles didn't like to think about Him. Him had left Townsville, so it seemed, but Bubbles was always sure he would come back. That was one monster that would never stay locked up when put in the prison; this was a relief, because Bubbles didn't want to see him while here.

The girls were lead to the maximum security wing. Bubbles wasn't surprised at this point. They were being treated like those monsters they fought on a daily basis. Maximum security is expected. She was surprised by the lack of security as they approached the wing of the prison. She decided to ask Jeremy, one of the guards guiding them, "Mr. Guard, where is all the security? Shouldn't someone be keeping an eye on Mojo and the Gang Greengang and Sedusa?"

Jeremy looked down at Bubbles, saying, "Oh, they were all carted out this morning, by the Gremlins. Had all the paperwork and everything. They looked like they could keep even those Rowdy boys in check, if we had 'em. I wouldn't worry much." He was a good man, but a little slow on the uptake. Bubbles could hear Blossom let out an almost inaudible growl. She was getting frustrated by how outmaneuvered they all were.

Bubbles was more worried about what else Grimaldi was doing with all the former villains of her sisters and hers. Why did they take them out of prison? Where they involved in the case against the Professor? Bubbles shook her head. All this analysis and thinking was tiring. She was getting hungry too. She hoped lunch would be served to them.

The Utoniums were escorted to the vacant maximum security filled with silence and their echoing steps. One of the doors for the wing was already open, waiting for its new and only occupants. The family was marched in, uncuffed, and forced to sit down. The girls needed to levitate to reach the benches at all. The prison door slid shut and locked, with an apologetic look from Jeremy.

Bubbles looked around at the gray, boring cell, with a single cot and a toilet in the corner. "How long until Mrs. Bellum gets us out of here?"

Blossom glared seriously at the wall opposite, her mind turning at full speed. "I do not know, Bubbles. Hopefully soon. Every moment we have wasted here, is another where we can't act against the bastards working against us. They may have started this battle, but they are not the ones who set up the rules and regulations. I will not let them do this to us." It was silent for a moment, as they contemplated Blossom's words and what she might have meant by the angry tone.


	6. Ch 6: Competing Motivations

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 6:

**Competing Motivations**

While the silence took over them all, Buttercup hopped off the bed and took a closer look at the cell that had held their previous enemies. It was strange to think it now held the Powerpuff Girls. It was made of dull stone painted grey, with chips and cracks to reveal some of the white cinderblocks beneath. The cot where the Professor and her sisters sat was bolted into the frame, which was bolted to the ground. The plastic toilet smelled of industrial disinfectant and something awful that no amount of cleaning could rid it of. The room had no windows, and only one entrance, a solid steel door, built into the frame and without any handles on this side of the door. It was solid, and Buttercup remembered hearing the latching sounds of at least three locks as it shut the family in. She could break out in an instant.

The obsidian haired youth sighed. She hated all of this. She wanted to fight! Blossom's words ignited something within her, and she wanted just lash out. Her red haired sister would know what to do. "So, Blossom. You must have thought all this through. What can we do now? Even talking about it would be better than this stupid silence. I don't care who is listening!"

Blossom, who had been staring at the opposite wall intently, turned her gaze on Buttercup a moment. Buttercup nearly flinched at the gaze, but listened as Blossom spoke, "We need a lawyer, Buttercup. While your cognizance of my skills is good, you are overestimating my scale of knowledge. I am not omniscient. I only knew so much about GREM and the Neo-Tokyo Protocol because it was cited in the fifth grade history book of our school, then found out more on the internet. Right now, the only option for us is to speculate on their next move, and why."

Buttercup glanced at Bubbles, still sitting next to her sister, as Blossom stared again at the wall. Bubbles looked back, obviously worried. Buttercup remembered her blond sister mentioning that she was apprehensive about Blossom's attitude. Buttercup had dismissed it at the time, knowing their "nice" sister was just a book nerd. Now she was becoming concerned. Buttercup ventured, "You okay, Blossom?"

Blossom didn't glance her way this time, just saying, "Absolutely, why do you inquire?" It was with the same cheerful voice that Blossom usually spoke with in a good mood. It came too quickly and easily. Was their sister lying to them?

Bubbles spoke up with some more obviously forced cheer, "Glad to hear it, Blossom. Well, we can't talk about this mess without a lawyer, what can we talk about? Mrs. Squeaks, the squirrel down in the oak tree down the street, just heard that her cousin had three kids! Three of them! I was going to visit them this weekend."

Buttercup wasn't sure if she should be thankful for the poorly maneuvered topic change or not, but she didn't have much a chance to reply, when the Professor spoke up. His voice almost startled her. She had forgotten he was there. Usually it was just her and her sisters. Given this whole mess was being blamed on him, she mentally berated herself for forgetting him. His calm fatherly tones were filled with worry and confusion. "Wait, wait, girls. I have a lot I need to talk about. Blossom, are you sure you are okay?" He placed his hand on her back, a sign of his concern.

Buttercup could see Blossom's intense gaze at the wall transform, her morose thinking face transforming almost instantly, as she looked up at the Professor with earnest reassurance. "Yes, of course. Sorry. This all just blindsided us. I was just trying to figure out where to turn it all around."

The Professor's blocky face seemed mostly reassured, and he answered, saying, "I am glad. Listen, girls, we will get through this. I am sure that this will blow over." As he spoke, Blossom turned her eyes back to the wall, her face no longer quite as stern, but the happy mask she wore for the Professor was removed. "What I want to talk about then is you, Buttercup. What is this about not being able to play sports?"

Buttercup was so shocked at her sister in the red bow, she almost forgot that the Professor asked her a question. How many times had she talked to her sister without watching her, too intent on the TV or computer? How many times had she worn that lighthearted mask? The Professor had to speak again, "Buttercup?" before breaking her from her reverie.

Buttercup blinked, and looked up to the Professor, "Wait, what? Oh… the sports?" She wanted to think about her sister's condition some more, but it would have to wait for now, she felt. Buttercup felt herself go a little red as she remembered her former outburst, only this morning. She looked down and scuffed her foot along the cell floor. "It's really not so bad. We should worry about something else."

She didn't see the Professor's face, but she could guess at its stern look as he said, "Buttercup…"

She sighed, why was she always the one getting into trouble? But she answered, knowing the Professor wouldn't get off of her back until she did. She looked back up at him, not wasting any more time trying to change the subject. "Really, it's not that bad. The biggest problem is that we still look like five year olds. It was okay in kindergarten. We looked just like the others. They liked to play with us. Even in first grade, it was okay… but it started getting worse. They were all growing taller… and bigger… and meaner."

Buttercup leaned up against the wall opposite the other three, feeling the weight of her past growing, looking at her feet again, "They started with a little teasing. But it was starting to grow into resentment. I could still beat them all. It obviously wasn't hard. They stopped letting me play games at recess… I started really cutting back then, trying to be a team player, with anyone who would play. It… wasn't enough. In July between first and second grade… a year and a half ago, I was politely asked to quit the soccer team. I wasn't breaking rules, or anything, but other schools were getting angry that we would win all the time and I was the lead player. And other parents on the team were even getting tired of me taking all the hard shots and… So I quit."

She slid down the wall, sitting on the hard cold concrete floor staring at the greyness like it was her only escape. It was too hard to look at her sisters, or especially the Professor. Her admissions were gripping her, refusing to let her stop She felt something slide down her cheek. "I didn't tell you. Work was picking up then; you had all those reports due, and couldn't make it to most games anyway. It hadn't gotten much worse in second grade. They still teased me, and I stopped going to recess. Mitch… Mitch couldn't spend time with me anymore. He was becoming a social pariah. We still chat online but it… So I went to the library and got on the computer a lot. I started writing stories. First for myself. An escape.

"Somewhere I could become someone I wanted to be. My most popular stories… It was about a girl unable to walk without crutches. She remembered running as a kid, but a car crash… in the summer before high school, she got replacement kneecaps and could run. Became the star of the run-" she sobbed, and stuttered. "Running team. She- she… I was her. Of course I was. But I can't even be- be… Proud! I had fans. A couple dozen, more than half cla- claimed they were crippled and found s-so much in my story."

Her voice was cracking, and Buttercup couldn't even deny it to herself that she was crying. She glared up at the Professor, who looked heartbroken. Her eyes were filled anger, anger directed at herself, not the Professor. She sniffled, trying to keep her snot from running out her nose. She nearly shouted, "But look at me! I can- I can fly! I have heat vision. I am a s-s-s-super hero! Ho- how s-s-stupid is that? My only eca-capes are-are cripple st-stories and hoping-ing for mons-s-sters. Monsters-s-s that kill pe-people! I am s-s-so… path-"

She was interrupted when the Professor suddenly picked her up in his arms, holding her close and muttering, "Shh, shhh, shhhh Buttercup. No. You are not anything but amazing. You have been through so much! You and your sisters are so strong. You girls are so strong. You can always come to me, Buttercup. No matter how much work I have. I will always be there for you." Buttercup was sobbing now. She had been so alone for the last year. She loved her sisters… but they were nothing like her, but too similar. She hated going to them for help. She let her frustration and sadness, held by the only dad she has ever known.

Bubbles was the first of the sisters to follow the Professor in comforting her sister. She was already quietly crying herself, too easily gripped by the emotional torrent of Buttercup. Blossom considered for a moment, knowing the nice thing was to do the same. She levitated close to wrap her arms around her father and cradled sister. She felt for Buttercup, she really did. Not even Blossom herself was separated from the things she loved.

It was tragic to see the frustration in her sister. Buttercup was usually the least easily depressed of the three girls, even Blossom would admit. If she was having trouble keeping it together, then everything was really going wrong.

She needed to know more about Grimaldi. She knew he was a brilliant tactical leader, and was born in Italy, though raised in Switzerland. He has been in charge of GREM since its inception, and most of the amendments since have been passed with his urging and consent. But that was about it. She didn't know his age, or how he got assigned to head of GREM tactical organization.

She let go of her father and sister as Bubbles did, allowing the pair room to breathe. She was not up to date on any new updates to the Neo-Tokyo Protocol. Surely there was something in there they can use to help them. Her father asked softly, as Buttercup calmed down, "Why didn't you girls say anything?"

Maybe she was approaching this the wrong way. She didn't know enough about law and the Protocol or GREM. She did know about the Professor. His focus was Biochemistry. He usually was trying to re-form deformed proteins, but had a couple other projects on the side. Despite his absentmindedness, he always completed his paperwork for his research.

It was Bubbles who rose to the question asked by the Professor. "We, um… made a pact." Blossom broke from her thoughts to look at Bubbles, a little disapproving. Bubbles, who would usually back down, straightened and continued. "We sort of promised together not to bother you with our trouble. We would help each other out, and you would be able to focus on all the work you had."

The Professor sounded perplexed ,"Why in the name of science would you do that? I always want to help you. You are my girls."

Bubbles sounded like she might falter but continued, "You… we have been growing up. We can't spend our lives running to you when we scrape our knees anymore. We didn't need any help in school, or in fighting monsters. But we do love you, so we set up dinner times. While you worked, you usually forgot to eat anyway. It was a good idea. Blossom's idea." Blossom nodded, though just to confirm. If Bubbles wanted to speak, she would be nice enough to let her.

Bubbles continued, "We are all really smart. I mean, well, I can be honest here. I am not very smart, compared to my sisters. No, its true," she said, before Blossom could give token protest, and as Buttercup sniffled something, "I am not as smart. I actually need to pay attention in class. I don't spend it reading and writing like you two. The class work is easy though. I don't think we are being challenged. The reason we haven't said anything is because we had to fight monsters occasionally, and would get behind in class work. But with GREM here, do you think we could consider getting bumped up, a grade level, Professor? Blossom especially. She should be in, like, high school. Maybe even college" 

Blossom tried to look modest. "I am not that intelligent." She didn't have the heart to tell Bubbles that they were about to be sent to a monster detention facility, even if the Professor was exonerated of all claims of violating the Protocol. The biggest question was, did making the Powerpuff Girls violate the bounds allowed by his certifications, even if they were a mistake? She needed to find out how hard it would be to prove that the Girls were a mistake. Not only that, but a good mistake.

Bubbles giggled, a light tinkling noise, "Blossom, you are sitting there thinking about what to do to save us all, and still have the brain power to attempt to play down your intelligence. I can barely focus on two things at once. You are already trying to find loopholes and twists to stop the trial before it even starts. You are far smarter than both of us."

Buttercup spoke up, still sounding a little hoarse from her misery, "Combined. You remember when you tried to explain that momentum thing to us?" She laughed as well, trying to shake off her sadness, which still crept in at the edges of her voice.

Blossom still thought this was the machinations of one of their former adversaries, but the only one that came to mind as actually able to commit this complexity of scheming was Him, and this all was far too impersonal for his touch. He attacked and tested the girls, not the Professor. She answered, "Really. You guys are just as smart. I just enjoy learning more."

Bubbles giggled again, "Yeah. Which makes you the smartest. Really, school has only gotten bad for me in third grade. Princess came back from her private classes in Europe, and turned most of the students who were neutral about us, against us. I still have friends with every group… but she has isolated Buttercup and Blossom almost completely." She frowned, saying, "That's why I think it would be best of we moved up a grade or two, or maybe to a different school, if we had to. Princess has been worse to us personally than any of our other enemies in the last year."

The Professor nodded, considering the idea. "That is a good idea, Bubbles. When this all passes by us, I will see what I can do. Okay?" The girls nodded, but everyone was suddenly surprised by the sudden sound of the doors unlatching. As shoddy as this cell looked, they were very sound proof.

Buttercup was struggling to get out of the Professor's arms before someone saw her, and the door opened. It was one of the prison guards who brought them to this cell. He looked relieved, "Come on out. You are all free to go. You have a couple of visitors as well." They had all sort of expected to see Mrs. Bellum, but who could the second person be? Blossom scowled, mentally, while maintaining her neutral mask. She hated surprises.


	7. Ch 7: The Devil You Know

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 7:

**The Devil You Know**

The family was escorted out of the max security wing and into a room. It was the prison's interrogation room. Apparently Mrs. Bellum was waiting for them there. It seemed like a strange place to meet. Bubbles was eager to get out of the prison as soon as possible. It was dark and unfriendly. She would definitely list it on her list of dislikes, even if it served a good purpose.

When Jeremy was kind enough to open the room for them, the professor and girls were able to see who else was saving them from imprisonment. Bubbles was mildly disappointed. Both the man and Mrs. Bellum were standing on the other side of a plain table. Mrs. Bellum didn't smile until she saw the girls, and Bubbles sensed some tension in the air suddenly shift as the door opened to reveal the Utonium family. Bubbles had been hoping the second person would be Mrs. Bellum's husband. Bubbles liked Mr. Bellum. He was not here now. Instead, there was someone else. Bubbles had never seen this man before.

He had an arrogant but intelligent face, and a smile like a shark, maybe entering his early forties. He was wearing an expensive, charcoal-colored, three piece suit and carried what had to be a custom designer briefcase. His black hair was oiled and combed back, just long enough to form the beginnings of a pony tail at the back of his head. His skin was tanned and he was nominally handsome, though there was something about him that put Bubbles on edge. He nodded his head to them, and spoke, "Come in. Come in. We can't start until we have complete privacy." He gave a pointed glance to Jeremy, who raised his hands, obviously ready to leave once the door closed.

Once the family all filtered in, and the door was closed behind them. The man placed his briefcase down flat on the table in the room, and there was a double click of latches opening. He opened it, and pulled something out, showing some silver metal device to them, before pressing a button, a red light winking on. A high pitched whine filled the room, just at the edge of Bubble's range of hearing.

The man spoke again, walking around the table to face the girls; no… to face the Professor. "Ah, much better. Just a little insurance. Greetings. It is a pleasure to meet you Dr. Gary Utonium. The second I heard about your issues, I flew in straight from Los Angeles to offer my services." He offered his hand to the Professor.

The Professor was taken aback, but took the man's hand and shook it, saying, "Well. Yes, though I prefer to be called Professor rather than Doctor. I am afraid I don't know who you are though, Mr.…?"

The grinning man laughed a little, saying, "Ah, of course. No surprise. Unless you are interested in such issues, most don't know my name. I am Marcus Loks. I am a lawyer who specializes in defense of those who have allegedly violated the Neo-Tokyo Protocol." His grin grew wider, if that was possible, "Actually, if I am able to be perfectly honest. I am _the lawyer _who specializes in this field. If you want, I can cite cases I have taken on the defense of those who have allegedly exceeded the Protocol. I even have a thirty percent success rate; nearly triple the rate of my fellow colleagues in the field."

The Professor started to speak, "Well, I-" before Blossom cut him off, "You got Dr. Ivan Kriegor off on the charge that he was trying to recreate some of the Nazi experiments with reanimating the dead, right? I remember the news." She blinked, and looked up to the Professor, "In all probability, this man is the one who can drop these charges. And keep us from being locked up like the Rowdyruff Boys."

Bubbles frowned, wondering if Blossom knew more about the boys than she had told them, but the Professor spoke first. "Oh. Okay then." He looked from Blossom to the lawyer, Mr. Loks. "Well, there obviously need to be some details worked out, but for now… I would be happy to hear what you have to say. But first…" The Professor looked to Mrs. Bellum, "Hello, Sara. How are you? You are looking glorious as usual. How is Michael doing?"

Mrs. Bellum laughed and rolled her eyes, "Professor. Good. But I will be doing better once this shadow passes over our fair city. I am sure the same could be said for you. Michael is good. He has been working nearly as hard as I have lately, though not today. The mayor is beside himself, unsure of how to handle it all."

As the two spoke, Bubbles saw that Mr. Loks seemed be appraising Blossom, as if some animal had started to speak. In fact, Bubbles didn't think that the lawyer had looked at the girls once, when they entered the room, and had stared only at the Professor. It wasn't until Blossom spoke that he acknowledged her presence. He still hadn't looked at either Bubbles or Buttercup.

Bubbles wasn't sure what was happening. She went ahead and broke the ice that the others hadn't noticed yet. "Hello Mrs. Bellum! Hello, Mr. Loks! It is a pleasure to meet you. I hope you can help get us out of this trial. I don't think the Professor should go to jail." Bubbles felt as cheerful as she could, but the high pitched whine was starting to grate on her ears, even starting to hurt.

The lawyer glanced over at Bubbles, breaking the staring match, or whatever, and stood up straight, as Mrs. Bellum replied, "Hello Bubbles, Blossom and Buttercup. We are going to everything we can to prevent that. How are you girls holding up?"

Bubbles smiled brightly, "Good! This is all happening to fast for me though."

Blossom glanced to Mrs. Bellum, "Fine, thank you."

Buttercup finished, saying, "Okay." Her voice was muted, probably trying to hide her previous outpouring of emotion, but didn't quite manage it. She had been looking down or away from the others since she got into the room, probably trying to hide her slightly reddened eyes.

Mrs. Bellum, one smart cookie, picked up immediately, "Are you okay Buttercup?"

Buttercup scowled, "Of course. I am fine. Shouldn't we be talking about the case or something?"

Mrs. Bellum seemed determined to press the issue, but Mr. Loks spoke up, sounding a bit agitated. "Yes, yes. There is the impending trial of Dr. Utonium here." He blinked, rolled his eyes quickly, and said, "Sorry, Professor. Professor Utonium. Now. Everyone can take a seat…" he looked at the table, still bearing his briefcase and the annoying device that was making the incessant buzzing noise. The table only has three chairs.

Bubbles smiled, "No worries. We can sit on the table." She floated her way to the table, and sat down on the edge, near Mrs. Bellum, who was sitting on the same side of the long table as the Professor. She figured this meant that Buttercup, who still might need the comfort of her father nearby. Buttercup took a spot on the table next to the professor, and Blossom sat next to her, closer to Mr. Loks.

He seemed taken aback for a moment, but quickly recovered. "Well... So, the first thing we must cover is why you are on trial, and what statutes you are being persecuted for violating. They are pulling out all the stops, activating Article five, nineteen, and seventy-four. You are being tried for ten violations of the Neo-Tokyo Protocol in just two-"

The Professor interrupted, "What? Ten? How am I accused of ten violations? I only made the girls." He looked confused, like trying to figure out how someone could have added two and one together to make ten.

Blossom interrupted Mr. Loks before he could answer, "They are counting Mojo Jojo as one." Their constant evil monkey villain had been an accident. The chimpanzee had been created into a super genius when making contact with Chemical X, during the monkey's days as Professor Utonium's lab assistant.

Buttercup chimed in, "Dynamo, too, Professor, even though you dismantled it." She referred to the giant robot created by the Professor, piloted by him to help his girls fight monsters, so he could feel more involved with their lives. He took it apart after seeing the accidental destruction it caused.

Mr. Loks nodded, and continued, "Any anything your creations created. That is covered under Article five."

Blossom continued, counting on her small hand, "So that also includes the Rowdyruff Boys. That's eight total." The Rowdyruff Boys, a creation of Mojo Jojo then later resurrected by Him, were formidable foes but soon grew tired of being beaten by the sisters. They traveled to another city to try to claim it as their own. They were captured, and are now being held in a maximum security prison for super powered humans.

Bubbles knew who the last two were. She sighed, and finished for them. "Bullet too, and… Bunny."

While those in the know drew silent, the lawyer broke in, "What is Bullet and Bunny? I know about all of the others."

Blossom chose to explain, "Bullet is a squirrel Bubbles found and gave Chemical X to keep it alive. It gained powers similar to ours." She paused, "Bunny… was all three of ours fault. We wanted to make another sister, to help out with everything… but did a poor job of it. She was… mentally deficient and chemically unstable. She died a few hours after creation."

They would probably have liked a moment of silence, but the lawyer simply stated, "Oh good. We can say it had a built in self-termination element." Buttercup gasped in anger, while everyone else was simply stunned at his crass comment.

* * *

Buttercup knew exactly who this man reminded her of. As he smirked down at his papers, a bastard in all forms, his grin was just like that man from the hallway from the Citysville PD. The two men looked nothing alike, but they both had that predator's grin.

Ignorant of all of their anger, or just ignoring it, he spoke up, "So, like I was saying, you are up for 10 counts of Protocol violation, and the case is due to start in two weeks. Before you interrupt me, yes, I know that is too soon. They are enacting one of the latest additions to the Protocol, where a faster trial occurs because of some sort of time issues, like the scientist's work is loose and hidden, and they need authority to use more extreme information extraction techniques only allowed after a guilty verdict."

He rolled his eyes, "This is clearly a complete violation of the amendment's purpose, and we will gain some advantages because there is such a short time to prepare. Also, they have pulled all of your… daughters' enemies out of their various prisons."

Buttercup was surprised, "All of them? Including the Rowdyruff Boys?"

He nodded, "All of them. Except for… Him." He suddenly sounded less confident, concerned even. "Him… hasn't every shown up in court ever, or in any jail for long." He swallowed, and showed a moment of weakness, looking over their heads saying, "Him appears at every graduation of every law schools. Just to mess with lawyers, I think. It's pretty hush hush, and they trying to capture him at one but…" He shook his head and returned his gaze down at papers coming out of his briefcase. "Anyway, we have several things to go over, so let us be-"

He was interrupted by Bubbles, who asked, "What time is it?"

He looked at his wrist, looking at the time, obviously frustrated. "It is four forty-five. Why, is something more pressing happening soon?" He looked at Bubbles in an annoyed gaze Buttercup wanted to beat off his face, but she remained still.

"Well… I, ah, need to be at Ms. Sylvia's Dance school at five fifteen. I am helping train the five year olds and younger. A new class starts today" She looked abashed, saying, "Sorry, No. It's okay. They will be fine without me."

The Professor spoke, "Shouldn't you be in higher classes by now?"

Bubbles looked away, "Well, The older girls thought I looked strange being in their class, and so I was asked to help with the younger ones so that- It's okay, Professor, I enjoy it!" She added the last part to sooth his worries about her being unable to be in older classes.

The Professor looked about to speak, but the snake of a lawyer spoke first, "Oh, that's good. We can use that. That might actually be a good idea for you to go. The press is waiting outside, and we should meet them soon. It sounds good for you to go off and live your life as if nothing was wrong. We should talk about all of this stuff in the safety of a more secure meeting room and after we discuss my payment."

Buttercup watched as he gathered up his papers and clicked off the silent metal device with nothing more than a blinking light.

The lawyer quickly had all of his stuff collected; he spoke up, "Let's go meet the press, shall we?"


	8. Ch 8: Broadcast Dangerous

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 8:

**Broadcast Dangerous**

As they walked down the hallways, Marcus Loks was talking to them. "Okay, we are going to play this press meeting off as friendly and normal. You are shocked and taken aback by all the false allegations. You are going to fight the charges, and want to clear your name. If they try to address you, girls, just act your apparent age, and seem upset and innocent. And stop calling Professor Utonium "Professor". Use father, dad, or daddy. The goal is for you all to appear human." He spoke with a commanding voice, one with years of experience, though seemed unused to addressing children, his pitch softening when talking to them, as if they were delicate.

Blossom was interested to see what press actually shows up. The Powerpuff Girls have been on the news before, but they were, for the most part, a local anomaly. The Superhero Commune in Los Angeles generally grabbed most of the press along this coast, having huge financial backers, a team of publicists and plenty of tabloid ready scandals. Last she heard they were planning on making a reality show.

Even with the Professor being indicted for breaking the Protocol, a fairly rare offense, she calculated that there was little to be interested for the world at large.

The stepped out of the main doors of the prison, back into the same courtyard and parking lot of the prison they had been dropped off in. Before, it was fairly sparse with the cars of the guards parked about, as well as a few extra here or there. Now the courtyard was packed and the guards assigned to watch it looked nervous, as if they feared a riot would start. Blossom's calculations were off, by at least one order of magnitude. Maybe even two.

There were news vans from every station. Her eyes combed over the parking lot, and she counted at least twenty news vans. Another glance brought her count up to twenty four exactly. They all had brought crews: reporters, camera men, sound men, back up reporters and more. Blossom counted twenty eight news video cameras now suddenly orient on the main doors of the prison. Bubbles was standing next to her, smiling brightly and waving into the crush of people who jockeyed for better positions. There was an almost hum of clicks, from all of the individual cameras brought by newspaper and internet reporters. There were people writing madly in journals, adjusting equipment, and others dictating into phones, all with their eyes on the Mrs. Bellum, Loks, the Professor and the Powerpuff Girls.

Blossom could have spent much of her time watching the crowd, but something drew her attention to the gap between the Powerpuff Girls and the crowd. It was a podium. Who on earth came up with a podium during the time they had been in jail? It had microphones built into it, and was about five feet tall, resting on a flat break in the stairs up to the prison, maybe two feet above the ground that the reporters were flooding. There was a scant felt rope barrier and three guards protecting the six of them from becoming attacked by the microphones and cameras in the mob. Did Loks set this up? Blossom had never wondered where those podiums came from before, just always ubiquitously present in all press releases as scandals broke. Marcus Loks didn't seem fazed, so Blossom took it has his doing.

Loks took a step up to the podium and the din rose, as people started shouting questions and queries. He had his practiced, wide grin on his face but spoke up, nearly loud enough to penetrate the din, saying, "Quiet! Quiet! We need to make a statement then we can take a few questions before we leave."

Slowly the crowd got the idea, as he repeated himself in genial impatience. Once everyone became quiet, Marcus Loks spoke. "Hello all. No doubt you have heard of the wrongful and malicious attack on the esteemed Professor Gary Utonium. We fully reject the idea that he has broken the Neo-Tokyo Protocol any number of times, and seek a full acquittal of the charges against him. This entire case has been wrongfully handled up until now. The activation of articles five, nineteen and especially seventy-four of the Protocol are **all** out of line. This trial is a prime example of how the latest additions to the Neo-Tokyo Protocol are being used to slant the case against the accused, thus making it far easier to make the innocent be charged guilty."

Blossom nodded mentally. It was well worded, and she was happy so far that she backed Marcus Loks hiring. Of course, there was still the issue of how he is going to be paid, but he wouldn't have taken the case for them if Loks didn't think that he would be paid.

He continued, "Now, we have time for a few questions before we must leave before even more wrongful allegations are placed on my client. One at a time, please!" He spoke up before the din rose again, and pointed to one of reporters near the front.

The woman, in heels and with brown hair, asked, "Are you disputing all ten charges of violating the Neo-Tokyo Protocol?"

Marcus Loks spoke up, sounding confident, "Every charge. All of them are false, and I will seek my client to be determined innocent." He pointed to another reporter, one Blossom recognized as local. "Girls, how are you dealing with being suddenly treated like monsters by the rest of the world?"

There was a muffled sound as suddenly the cameras all shifted down to the bottom of the podium, on the four foot tall girls fanning out from behind it. Blossom and Bubbles were to the left of the podium, with Buttercup on the right.

Blossom waited for all the cameras to focus, knowing that it would be only polite, then spoke, knowing her sisters expected if from her. "We are upset, understandably. We feel like everyone else does, and being told that we are monsters, condemned to be imprisoned for trying to help out the city of Townsville defend itself."

That was a nice answer. She was proud of it, having had only seconds to think it up.

Another question followed, from big news company, asking, "How were you created and why do you look like little girls?"

A double question, that wasn't proper journalistic integrity, "We don't know. We just happened to be born this way. It was pure happenstance and accident how we turned out."

Another question cropped up, from a voice she recognized from the news, some famous reporter, asking simply, "Are you actually human?"

Blossom prided herself on not lying. It was something she considered of utmost not nice. She was nice, above all else. However, when faced with a question that she could find no nice answer, it behooved herself to do the nicest thing of all which is, of course, say nothing at all. It is what she did when Buttercup asked "When will we grow up?" It is what she did when Bubbles asked "What can I do to cheer you up?" Silence was her nicest response.

* * *

Bubbles watched as Blossom stared into the cameras. No answer. Four seconds passed, five. It was agonizing. Bubbles wished she had telepathy, or something. _Say yes! Say yes, Blossom! Anything!_ Eight seconds, nine. Oh, it was unbearable. Bubbles glanced at Buttercup, who looked nervous and unwilling to help.

Bubbles couldn't stand it anymore, she jumped forward, widening her grin, and adjusted on of the pigtails on her head, as she spoke, "Well, Sure. I mean. Maybe we don't have the sort of traditional growing up stories. But I go to school, and like bunnies and squirrels and fluffy things and Buttercup is tough and likes to write and Blossom likes to read and is always making sure none of us do anything dumb."

Bubbles was ready to step back, but as she talked about Buttercup and Blossom she glanced at her sisters, and Blossom was still looking unable to talk, so when the next question hit, Bubbles swallowed and turned to face the limelight again. "What are you going to do with GREM soldiers taking over your usual position in fighting monsters?"

Bubbles shrugged, "Take a vacation." The simple answer got a small chorus of laughs and Bubbles giggled herself.

"Why are you always wearing the same outfit? Is it your superhero costume?"

Bubbles looked down at her baby blue dress, the wide black belt at her waist, and her knee high white socks, and the flat Mary Jane shoes she always wore. It was strange that she wore the same thing all the time, so she went ahead and told them why. Looking back at the camera, she said, "Well, we were born with them. They are dirt resistant and are a super strong. We wear this all the time because we never know when we will have to defend Townsville! It just makes sense. But don't worry," She smiled conspiratorially, glancing around as if making no one overheard, finally stating, "We wash them, like, every three days or after every big fight, just to make sure we don't stink." She giggled, and prayed the question and answer session was over. It was exhausting, and she wish Blossom was feeling good enough to take over from her on out. Bubbles was constantly worried she would say something she wasn't supposed to say.

"Professor Utonium, how can you defend that you have not violated the Neo-Tokyo Protocol, given that your creations can be clearly seen?"

The cameras panned upward, the focus suddenly off of the Powerpuff Girls. Once Bubbles saw the cameras were off of her, she breathed a sigh of relief. Professor spoke up, saying with some wavering confidence, "Well, ah, we will show that in court, I believe. But I know I have strictly abided by the laws set down in the Protocol, because I often have to do my own paperwork related to keeping my "Right-to-Experiment" license current."

"Do you feel that the Protocol is restricting or used improperly?"

The Professor shook his head, "No. I have seen the destruction wrought when there is no limit on certain types of research. I feel I myself have been wrongly accused, but I don't doubt that, for the most part, the Neo-Tokyo Protocol protects innocents every day."

"Do you girls think that the Neo-Tokyo Protocol helps, given that you fight monsters regularly dumped in to the Pacific Ocean?"

The cameras panned down again, and Bubbles was once again in the center. She glanced at Blossom who was not taking any motions to answer. Bubbles swallowed, and said, "Well. I didn't know about it until this morning. They don't teach it in third grade or second or first. But it makes sense. Without it, bad people could make monsters all the time, and before you know it, people could get really, really hurt."

"How often do you girls fight monsters?"

Bubbles shrugged, "Well, maybe once every three days? More or less; often, sometimes. I don't spend the time to think much about it. Oh! What time is it!"

She asked one of the reporters who had a watch, but someone further back in the crowd answered first. "Five seventeen."

Bubbles exclaimed, "Oh no! I am late. Listen. Sorry everybody! I gotta go! I am helping the beginners dance class at Sylvia's learn pirouettes! See you all! It was super nice to meet you all! I hope I get to see you again! Have a good day!"

She hated to rush her exit like that, but she was super late! She was never late. She needed to get down there quick. She leaped up and pushed off, speeding down town in a vivid blue blur, before anyone could protest. She was so late!

* * *

Several of the reporters recoiled and one shrieked in surprise suddenly, as if expecting a back draft. However the girls flew, it didn't manipulate wind. Blossom said even she was unsure how it worked.

Buttercup watched the crowd recover from the sudden absence of Bubbles, as the lawyer spoke. "Well, that seems as good a time as any to make our leave as well. Thank you all. We will be hosting another press release soon."

With that, before any of the reporters could claim some sort of protest to the sudden departure, the lawyer lead the remaining sisters, the Professor and Mrs. Bellum to a pair of black SUVs. Most of them piled into the one in front, but Mrs. Bellum and Blossom got into the one in back. Buttercup was sitting in the back seat with the Professor, and the lawyer sat shotgun.

As everyone settled and put on their seatbelts, the lawyer told the driver, "To the East Plaza Hotel, please." She then heard him mutter, "I will have to emphasis what acting like normal girls means before stunts like that happen again."

Buttercup was puzzling through the statement, before realizing what he meant, "Oh no. Don't tell me we can't use our powers until this case ends!"

His non-answer was answer enough. Buttercup groaned. She might as well be trapped in Citiesville.


	9. Ch 9: Worrying Times

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 9:

**Worrying Times**

Buttercup learned soon that, not only would they be forced to not use their powers in public, but also they had to go school tomorrow. More surprising than having to go to school was Blossom's vehemence against the idea. Buttercup had least suspected that Blossom would be against going to school. They argued as the hotel delivered food to eat.

However, the Profes- dad had the final word. He told them that the lawyer said that they really had to make sure that they seemed like normal girls, and that he agreed. They were to go to school. The girls crowded into the same, but large, bed of the nice hotel. Buttercup was sure that she wouldn't get any sleep after all the things she had to think about for the day, but before she knew it, she was out like a light before eight o'clock.

And before she knew it, she was woken by Bubbles, eager to get back to school and return to normalcy. Buttercup sighed and decided to wake up, just because she didn't want to be shaken awake again. Taken to school by a taxi, she slowly trudged into her class, run by the friendly Mr. Corvin. It also happened to be the class Princess was in.

Buttercup had not expected, was the suddenly buzz of conversation that traveled the school as the Powerpuff Girls went to their prospective classes. When she stepped into Mr. Corvin's class, everyone went quiet, and several people clamored to ask her question.

Taken aback, Buttercup stuttered out a few replies, until the shrill high pitched voice called out, "No! Friends, stay away from her! She is a monster! The government said so, and not just because of her lack of style." Princess was the queen bee in this class, but the kids seemed rather reluctant to fulfill this request. Princess reinforced her words, "No really. I heard that her and her sisters were so dangerous, that they had to call in all of the army in the world to keep them restrained. She could kill us all!"

Mr. Corvin called out, "Enough, Ms. Morbucks. Buttercup has been a part of this class for months, and even before then, she has never shown a tendency towards violence towards any child who doesn't provoke her. Buttercup is welcome in my class. We are glad to have her back."

Unfortunately, the damage was done, and the kids even now were leery of approaching the green clad social leper and possible killer. Even so, Buttercup smiled thankfully at the Mr. Corvin. He was previously an English teacher for middle school of another city, and when he learned of her interest in writing, he tried to encourage it. He was one of her few defenders in school.

Other than a few more whispered comments and scared glances, the day passed relatively uneventfully. She still did not take a recess, instead going to the library to update all her sites, informing her followers that she was not going to be on much. Well, for the sites that would still let her. Some of her sites had her account blocked, no doubt due to the Gremlins.

They had set up a few watchers at the school, as if expecting the girls to try and flee. Or maybe they were trying to collect evidence. Either way, by the time school was over there was a hired driver to take them from the school back to the hotel. She could have made it there so much faster if she could fly. But for this first day, she wasn't feeling the pressure to use her powers.

By the end of the weekend however, Buttercup was becoming a little stir crazy. Saturday was filled with a battery of questions, advice, and warnings by the lawyer. He was trying to gather information for his defense of the Prof- dad, while lining up some interviews for public interest all through Sunday. "We have to get public opinion on our side fast. You girls have a great record, but we need to show the world you are not monsters to be hated on sight."

Usually, and strangely, Bubbles led all the group interviews, but there were still some individual interviews by the press. One in particular stuck out for Buttercup.

The interviewer was a middle-aged woman who was known for her no nonsense questioning, and for her excellent exposés on stars and political figures, as the lawyer said. She had short blond hair, and seemed put-off by the size of Buttercup in person.

"Wow, I know that many other interviewers have said the same before me, but it is always surprising to see how young you look. Thanks for coming Buttercup."

Buttercup, never the most eloquent of speakers just said, "Uh, thanks. The, ah, secret is good nutrition and monster fighting." She coughed, "Well, I mean, that is the joke Bubbles keeps telling at least." She half smiled uncomfortable being in the spotlight.

The reporter laughed, but it was a practiced laugh, Buttercup could tell. "Well, you brought it up, so, my first question is: how do you girls manage fighting monsters at such a young age?"

Buttercup nodded, nervous still, "Well, we have super powers? But, I think you mean, like, personality-wise. I won't speak for my sisters, but I like fighting monster."

She seemed surprised, "You like fighting monsters?"

Buttercup nodded, a little of her nervousness vanishing, "I mean, it's a real test of our strength. I like using my powers when I can. It's like, um, you know a great artist likes to show off his work. Or a, um, reporter can be really proud of a good, um, interview. And I like helping people. The faster we stop the monsters, the more we help."

The interview nods, "That's how a lot of superheroes in other cities explain themselves. Do you girls feel alienated by being told you are aberrations or monsters that shouldn't exist?"

Buttercup knew this was one of the danger questions, and she had to answer carefully. "Well… um, I don't like it much. But I can understand how they feel. It makes me sad but, well, we have lots of support from Townsville folk. I know the rest of the world might worry about us, but we do it to help Townsville, not for public opinion. You know? We just want to live our lives and be, like, who we are and help where we can."

She seemed receptive, but her tone turned a little more serious, asking, "Buttercup, I have heard you and your sisters are outsiders in school. Is that true?"

Buttercup took in a breath, prepared to answer this since she saw Princess being interviewed on TV the day before. "Yes- well, Blossom and I are, Bubbles still has a lot of friends. We were sort of ostraciz-er.." She had been told not to use some of her bigger words by Mr. Loks. It makes the girls look strange, "We were sort of seperated by our size at first. Everyone else was growing up and we looked like we were being left behind. And, well… we do sort of have inherent advantages that some of the other kids were jealous of."

She interjected, "Your powers?"

Buttercup nodded, "Yeah. And when Townsville would get attacked, we got to leave school. I know it made the other students unhappy."

The interviewer nodded, asking, "You mentioned that you girls are not growing any older. Do you know why?"

Buttercup shook her head, "No, well. First, I think we- me and my sisters, I mean- are still learning. We aren't, you know, as dumb as five year olds. I know Blossom is really smart, like college or more. Bubbles is pretty smart, I think. She just doesn't like to show it. I am maybe in the middle. I know that Bubbles once called me an angst-y teenager." She smiled at the memory. Buttercup had been upset at the time, but now it rang true to herself. But before she paused for too long, she finished. "But however we were born, it hasn't let us grow taller or anything. Bubbles thinks we will start to grow when our age catches up to our bodies. I hope she is right."

The next question caught her off-guard, "What are you going to do if you never grow up?"

Buttercup blinked. She tried not to think about that, usually. But the answer came to her readily enough. "Defend Townsville, if I can, and definitely my family. Probably write books, under a nom de plume, er, a fake name. But I will always consider being a superhero and saving people my foremost desire."

The interview continued and, overall, was well received, unlike Blossom's, which had been a disaster. Still, Buttercup was tired of playing the part on screen. She was actually relieved for school on Monday. She didn't know how Bubbles could take it. She would rather be ignored in the corner of class than have to answer a billion questions.

School on Monday however, was a different issue entirely. There were protesters outside of the school, and when they saw the vehicle with the Powerpuff Girls in it, they redoubled their protests, calling for the school to "keep the monsters away from the children". There were police there to keep the crowd from approaching the girls, but Buttercup could tell they wanted to storm them.

She didn't understand it either. She went to the library before class to see what the news said, and a few sites said that the protest, which got national news, were mostly by people not from Townsville. Sure, a few of them were actual parents, but most had been brought in, and were still being brought in, by buses out of city.

That night she practiced using her X-Ray vision all night. She also would slowly charge up energy blasts then stop at the last moment, before the bolt left her hand. It was a lot of effort to charge those bolts and fire them, which was why she and her sisters rarely used them. The practice helped her sleep, and if she didn't use her powers somehow, she would go stir-crazy.

Even with all the growing protests at the school, the girls still had to go to school on Tuesday. Tuesday night was when dad told them that the Powerpuff Girls were not going to school on Wednesday.

* * *

The night they all went to the hotel, after the prison press conference, Blossom started to realize that with the Professor suddenly very interested in their lives, she was no longer to have as many freedoms as she used to enjoy.

That was not quite true. Blossom knew that the second she saw the Global Regiment for Extrahuman Management, she was going to lose some of her freedoms. But she expected that her right to choose would be taken from her by the military forces, not by the Professor.

"What do you mean we have to go to school?" Blossom asked in a calm clear voice as the Professor started divvying up plates for dinner.

"Exactly how it sounds, Blossom. I am sorry, girls, but we need to maintain a low profile if we want to have this trial start right. We want the press to look at you as I do, sweet dear children, with a few extra powers, and with lots of intelligence."

Blossom replied in an even tone, "You should realize, my intelligence lots would be far better suited to helping you craft a solid defense. I might not be a lawyer, but I have a complete knowledge of our team's history, and a better understand of who might be behind this attack on our family."

The Professor served himself some of the pot full of soup, catered by room service, and said, "No, Blossom. I am sorry, that is final. We will have plenty of time to talk about all that stuff after your classes tomorrow."

Blossom let the matter drop. Until her sisters had gone to bed, at least. Blossom slept only as much as she knew her body needed. Right now it was trained to sleep with less than five hours a night, and she could push three a night, if she could use the weekends to catch up. She spent the time to explore Townsville and read. Now she could do neither.

There were GREM soldiers in plainclothes watching the doors, and she is sure they are watching the windows. If anyone of them leaves by flying, they would be spotted, and it would look very bad for the Professor. She was supposed to be helping him. Blossom quietly rose from the bed, not waking her sisters after they had been asleep for three or so hours. The windows were drawn so she didn't have keep herself from levitating. She floated towards her father's room in the hotel suite.

Blossom didn't knock, just opened the door and entered. The Professor started, "Whoa, Bloss-" "Shh." She entered and closed the door behind her, checking with a glance to see if her sisters woke. Neither even shifted. The door closed. Blossom turned her gaze on the Professor.

Blossom didn't know what she was going to say before she came in here, so the Professor finally spoke first, "What's wrong, Blossom?"

Blossom considered her words closely, as she levitated to be eye level with the Professor, sitting on the bed, "I believe you are underutilizing my inherent skills."

The Professor frowned, "Listen, Buttercup, I know you don't-"

Blossom interrupted. It wasn't very nice of her, but she knew he was incorrect before he finished, "I have a near photographic memory. I have the most complete knowledge of what my sisters and I have done in the last three years. If I am here, helping you plan with Mr. Loks, I can better know how to organize my sisters, and how I can help over all."

The Professor sighed, and Blossom could guess what his next words would be. "Blossom… You are right. But you knowing the inner workings of the plan tomorrow morning won't save us anything. Mr. Loks thinks that if we make the world believe you three are nothing more than kids, with classes and friends and normal lives, aside from the monster fighting, we are more likely to win. I agree with him. If I take you girls out of school, it means I am treating you like tools to help me with my case. You need to be human children above all else for us to win."

Buttercup outright disagreed. Her voice even rose a little from the calm quietness to mild annoyance. "You are doing this simply to make sure the next trial, where you have to be proven as a competent parent, is easier. That cannot be a deciding factor. If you lose this case, my sisters and I will be killed, if we are lucky. More likely, we will be restrained and taken to a lab, to be tested and prodded and dissected until the end of our lives. You know this. **You know this!** I can help you be proven innocent, but not if I am chained to petty wastes of time like elementary school!"

Blossom was almost shaking with anger. She had risen, to float above the Professor. Something broke; a personal dam or a mental block. She was not being nice anymore. But whatever broke, it also snapped whatever reservations about being nice she had. She was willing to admit it to herself. She was frightened. She couldn't see how going to school will save anything but a little bad press.

The Professor was looking worried, and stood. "Please, understand. I know you are smart. I know you have spent a lot of time taking care of your sisters in my absence. But I am not incompetent. I will handle this, and regardless of the outcome, I will make sure you are not taken into a lab. Is… is there something else bothering you about going to school? Like…" He swallowed, his voice cracked as he regained his train of thought, "I know I am damned to hell for even thinking about sending Buttercup back to school." That was a mild shock, and Blossom dropped a few inches. The Professor never swore. "Is-" his voice cracked, "is there something you are avoiding there as well? I want to be there for you girls, be there now especially for all of this mess, and for all of the times I haven't been here. Please, is something else bothering you?"

He took a step towards her, arms open to take her in. Blossom darted back, fast enough to leave a trail of decaying pale red particles of light behind her. She spoke this time, calm, collected and as academic as she had been twelve hours ago, explaining how the Neo-Tokyo Protocol worked. "I have taken care of Buttercup, Bubbles and myself for more than a year now, but they have always needed you, father dearest. When you forgot to pay the electric bill in April, September and October, I managed it. When you stopped being able to provide for your own dinner, I made plans for us three to cook for the family. When monsters come to destroy this town, I keep my sisters safe and the townsfolk safe. Father dearest, if there is ever a problem I can't handle, then there is a problem that no one in this family can handle. Once you stop treating me like the child you think of me as, I will stop acting like the child I imagine you want from us."

She blinked, and tilted her head, slowly descending to the ground. "Father, it is past your bedtime!" She spoke in the sing-song voice she picked up from hearing the other kids in elementary. "You should sleep. You have a big day ahead with-" The Professor tried to interrupt with "Blossom," but she continued, "the lawyer man. He will plan everything just right. I will go to bed-" He tried again louder, "Blossom," and she finished, "too!"

He spoke, taking another step towards her, as she turned to open the door, "Blossom don't be like this."

Blossom turned to look up at the Professor, and spoke in a serious tone through her sing-song voice, "Shh… you will wake my sisters. They need a good night sleep for _school_ tomorrow!" The word "school" came out like a hissed curse. She twisted the door handle and opened it careful not to warp the handle or rip the door off its hinges with her strength. She made sure to close it softly behind her.

She was a little angry, yes, but she knew the Professor would see her way sooner rather than later. It was in his best interest to be agreeable.

The school day was wasted, as usual. She didn't even keep the least pretense of paying attention. Her teachers didn't mind. She learned long ago that when teachers asked questions to the class, they didn't want an answer from a student who knew all the answers. Instead, she started editing another text books.

When Marcus Loks started going over strategy and the information he needed from the girls, Blossom responded normally, even giving a suggestion here or there. She didn't answer the Professors questions in anything less than the child toned voice, and he learned to stop asking. On Saturday, Marcus Loks seemed to see her potential, even if father dearest didn't. She helped go through older cases, trying to find precedents and even made a call or two to some references and other lawyers.

She went to an interview on Sunday and back to school Monday and Tuesday. She spent every afternoon and evening organizing what Marcus Loks told her she could. When the Professor finally told them that there would be no school on Wednesday, she was relieved. Finally, he realized that she was right. When he explained, she realized he hadn't made this decision at all.

* * *

Once they got to the hotel, Mr. Loks made some plans with daddy. She liked being able to call him daddy. She and her sisters had called him their dad once or twice… but somehow, it never became common. Maybe it was because he introduced himself as Professor to them in those first few minutes of life. They were so much more impressionable then, so it stuck.

Bubbles made sure Mrs. Bellum caught a cab, and they headed up to the hotel. They all were surprised by the news coverage on their usually sleepy home city. There had to be reporters here from every major station, and Bubbles was pretty sure that she remembered seeing a microphone from the British Broadcasting Channel. The news didn't edit the interview much, showing every painful second of Blossom's silence.

She was being called the red-eyed leader of the group. Bubbles had never really thought about it, but since that time in the police station, she had thought about how Blossom exhibited the most unnatural eyes of the girls. At least one news anchor used the term "demon eyes", before the Professor changed the channel.

Blossom seemed rather unconcerned by their words, but when daddy told her she had to go to school, she was really upset. She seemed calm at the table, but Bubbles had never seen Blossom be that… harsh towards their dad, the Professor.

Of course, when Blossom woke up to go on her nightly escapades, Bubbles woke as well. Buttercup might sleep like a rock but Bubbles was always worried something might happen at night, the darkest and, thus, the scariest part of the day. Bubbles had only off hand mentioned it once, and Blossom claimed to be just going to the bathroom. Usually she stayed in the house, but sometimes she went out to explore.

Bubbles didn't feel like it was one of those times she should go back to sleep. Her stomach knotted as she heard her sister and dad fight. She wanted to go in there and give Blossom a hug, and tell her that she could still help at the school, or maybe they could claim she felt sick or something. Bubbles did not. She knew that Blossom was struggling with more than the trial. Bubbles just couldn't tell what. Blossom just wouldn't open up. She was worse than Buttercup in that instance.

When Bubbles heard that she and her sisters would either be killed or experimented on if the case was lost, the knot in her stomach seemed to spread. She didn't want to die! There were so many things she hadn't done. She hadn't said hello to the new baby squirrels of Mrs. Squeaks, or finished drawing her school art project. Of course, Bubbles wasn't quite this shallow. But thinking about the small things helped her not think about the big things. Like finding out how to make Blossom happy, or find her true love. Or even grow up.

Bubbles didn't sleep that night. She felt Blossom settle back into the bed and eventually fall asleep. Bubbles was not going to be able to sleep for much longer. The unthinkable was happening. She couldn't stop thinking. Bubbles knew that just like her moniker, her head tended to be filled with air. Now, all that "air" in her head was just jumping from thought to thought, making it impossible to rest.

Maybe if she had Octi with her, she could get to sleep. He could always comfort her, even after that Time. No. She didn't want to think about that. All her stuffed animals might save her from her own thoughts, but trapped in the dark unfamiliar room, the sound of sirens in the distance, with both her sisters sleeping fitfully, she was not sleeping.

It seemed like she had just made it to where she could sleep, when she felt the sun creep in from around the curtains. Buttercup would sleep in for as long as she could before the school bus arrived, but Blossom was already up, the TV on silent as she watched the news scrawl and closed captioning.

Bubbles didn't say anything about last night. Blossom probably wanted it to be private anyway. Bubbles instead floated to the bathroom, fixing her pigtails, and combing her hair with her fingers. They were going to have to stop by the store after school today.

School was fairly normal, but the protesters weighed heavily on her mind, along with the threat of death. She didn't show this; bubbly talking to her friends, and enjoying her moments drawing. It was the face she showed the world. She had gotten pretty good at drawing. She had several of her friends request art peices in the last year or so. Now, though, for the first time, she told them that she wouldn't be able to work on them for a while. They were a little disappointed. Some were not very friendly when they heard it, but Bubbles knew they would get over it. She hoped they would. She was busy now.

That Friday night, they talked strategy, but Bubbles zoned out. It was too heavy for her to understand, and she wasn't the only one. Buttercup was pretty smart, but she knew about as much about habeas corpus and caveat law policies as Bubbles. Only Blossom was interested, but tended to ignore anything dad said.

She tried to talk to Blossom about it, but she refused. She tried to talk to her dad about it, but the Professor was too busy that Friday night, organizing timelines and dates for the court.

On Saturday, she got to talk to Mr. Loks alone for the first time. He interviewed the girls individually that day, and Bubbles was first. At like nine, he called her into his suite, which was scattered with paper and boxes and boxes of law books. Every once in a while, one of his assistants, who were seated at weird portable desks, would stand and leave, looking hurried, but not panicked. The big bed in the main room was pushed against the far wall and covered in more boxed. It didn't look slept in at all.

When she knocked on the door, she was greeted with a loud, "Come on in." She walked into the room, not seeing the lawyer keeping her father from jail and her sisters from extermination or worse.

"I am in the private bedroom, come on in and close the door behind you." Bubbles did so, seeing that Mr. Loks had also set up a desk in here, more permanent than the ones in the other room, with a fancy rolling chair behind it, and another simpler chair in front it. He sat behind the desk with his wide smile and motioned to the empty one before the desk.

Bubbles nodded and asked politely as she hopped up into the chair, "Good morning! How are you today, Mr. Loks?" She was so short and the chair so tall that her feet swung freely above the carpet.

He set that same metallic buzzer machine back on the desk. Pressing a button turned it on, and it began to drone distractingly. He smiled a little wider, as if pleased with her greeting, and said, "I am excellent, Bubbles, thank you. With every passing moment, I am feeling better and better about this case. And no small part of that is you."

Bubbles was taken aback, "What? Why me?" She was just herself. How was that going to save them all?

He took some notes on the yellow notepad as he spoke which she couldn't read from this angle, "That's simple, Bubbles. You are the most charismatic of your sisters. When you stepped in on Thursday, you saved the day. My heart stopped beating once Blossom refused to answer, truthfully or not. You started it again. Will you become the spokesperson for the Powerpuff Girls?"

Bubbles blinked, "What?"

Mr. Loks seemed amused. "Will you become the spokesperson for the Powerpuff Girls?"

Bubbles shook her head vehemently, "No, no. You are confused. Blossom is the leader. She always does all the talking." She wasn't going to take Blossom's authority from her. She was best at talking anyway. Bubbles liked attention, sure, but not cameras! Not the centerfold. She wasn't smart enough anyway.

He seemed to disagree, "No. I know you are used to Blossom taking control but she showed herself unable to really handle difficult questions. Another moment like the one on Thursday would be disastrous. She is also… not the most publicly likable of you three. When you took over on Thursday, the polling of your responses generated positive comments from most demographics."

Bubbles didn't know what to say to that. Blossom was the speaker for the sisters. This was too big a change, too much to think about. "I still don't feel very comfortable with this. Don't you want someone… well, smarter? I can't answer any really hard questions. I am not sure that it would be good for me to mess up." Blossom was so much better at this. And Bubbles knew that if Buttercup were here, she would step in to help her right now. Bubbles was beginning to suspect that she was going to have to get used to standing on her own.

Mr. Loks shook his head, "The problem is, Bubbles, we are not looking for smart. We need you three to appear as normal as possible. If the public sees you three as just some extra special little girls, we have won the trial already. You exemplify exactly what we need right now."

She squirmed under Mr. Loks gaze, "Um… sure… Only if Blossom is okay with it. I don't want her to be upset. More upset."

He said, "Great!" sounding relieved, and scrawled more on that legal pad, "This will work out best for everyone, you will see. I want to go over some of how to answer some harder questions from the media, but first… what is this about Blossom being upset?"

Bubbles could have punched herself. She should just learn how to keep her mouth shut. "It's nothing, really." He looked at her disbelievingly, and she sighed, "Blossom and daddy are fighting. She is really, really upset about going to school and being left out of the planning. She thinks she can beat this case with her brain. And she is really smart, she probably can. I… I haven't ever heard her so angry before. Maybe you could involve her more? She is the smartest person I know. Sometimes even smarter than the Professor. And she can organize like nobody's business. I don't know law stuff, and she might be wrong about her decision to not go to school. But you need to use her, or she will… um… be more upset."

Bubbles hated to be so… open about her sisters without them being here. It wasn't fair to talk about them when they couldn't defend themselves. However, Mr. Loks seemed pleased, saying, "That is a great idea. There are piles of old files I need to go through for relevancy, and we will get more and more disorganized as we go along. Keeping her calm and occupied serves more than one purpose." The lawyer nodded, as if decided , and continued, "Well, we will have more to talk about. Specifically, I wanted to ask for more about Bullet and Bunny, but first, let me review some of the questions you might run into at our press release on Sunday."

Bubbles reluctantly took in his advice, and talked about her sibling and squirrel hero. She hadn't wanted to, but someone needed to make sure Mr. Loks knew about it, and Bunny especially was a harsh memory for all the girls. Buttercup and Blossom had both dealt with enough emotional stress lately. She answered all his questions, and left, feeling more tired than after most monster fights. There were thoughts Bubbles knew were important, and she would never forget their mistake in making Bunny, but that mistake was one of her worst life experiences.

She fronted the Powerpuff Girls in the press release on Sunday without argument from Blossom and did fine in her interview. Whether or not Blossom needed it, Bubbles made sure to give her a hug after hers.

Monday and Tuesday were normal, but there were more protesters each day. It was uncomfortable, and more than a few of her friends were pulled from the school. On Tuesday night, dad and Mr. Loks told them what Wednesday would bring. GREM soldiers got the warrant they needed. She and her sisters were to be examined for evidence collection purposes, and a preliminary interview would be conducted. Interviews Bubbles could handle. It was the "evidence collection" idea that ran harrowing through her mind all evening long.


	10. Ch 10: Sense of Internment

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 10:

**Sense of Internment**

The morning that the GREM soldiers arrived was cold. It was if the winter was reminding them all that it was just around the corner, ready to make its assault in the coming months.

The Professor was talking to them over breakfast, trying to offer encouraging words and to keep their spirit up. Mr. Loks said he had to work to overturn the ruling that came along with the evidence collection; that the girls were to be deemed non-human entities as defined by the Neo-Tokyo Protocol. This meant that they were to be turned over to GREM internment until a determination could be made as to their danger to society.

"Mr. Loks says he can get you girls out in less than eighteen hours. Because they didn't classify you as my property initially, it was harder for them to get this warrant, and will be harder for them to keep you. So you won't be spending even a full day in their custody. Make sure you eat well. The food will probably not be very good. So eat as much as you can. Is there something wrong with the eggs, Bubbles?"

Bubbles twirled soft and runny eggs around a few more moments, before realizing dad had asked her a question. She blinked and looked up at him, sitting across the table, next to Blossom. She opened her mouth for a moment then whispered, "I'm scared." She looked down at the plate and considered the smears left by the yolk on the plate.

She knew she wasn't the only one, but she didn't feel any urge to hide it, as if it were a secret. Her dad got to his feet and walked to her side to give her a hug. She hugged him back. He repeated himself, trying to sound confident for their sake. "I promise it won't be for long. If I could go with you, I would. But you and your sisters will be together, and you can always rely on each other. Just do whatever they tell you, and they can't do anything to you, or risk damaging their case. It will be over before you know it."

Bubbles nodded, trying to contain her tears. She hasn't had time to cry lately, and it has been building up over the last week. She thought of crying as a release, but she knew it worried her sisters and she needed to be strong for them.

Bubbles finished the eggs, and saw that her sisters had done the same. Only Blossom had finished quickly, brightly announcing with a sing-song voice to the Professor, "Done, Father!"

The Professor tried to turn her anger again, saying, "Blossom, I am really sorry. Listen, you won't have to go to school anymore and once we get you out of GREM custody, you can help full time."

Blossom grabbed her dish and utensils and put it on the room service cart, flippantly saying, "Yes, because the mandate of de-humanization means we can't attend school anymore."

Bubbles looked aghast. "Wait, never again?" Blossom looked at her, suddenly some honest emotion on her face in the form of an apology. That Blossom had lost control of her temper so easily, and let slip something she was hiding… Well, Bubbles added it to the list of things that worried Bubbles.

Blossom did attempt to fix her mistake, "Yes… just for now. We will be able to return after the trial, probably." Bubbles nodded mutely, wishing she could believe that. She had so many friends she didn't say goodbye to.

* * *

The professor had been given twelve hours before GREM would take the Powerpuff Girls by force. That has been at nine thirty last night. It was nine o'clock AM, as the girls rode down the elevator with dad. Buttercup didn't much like the green carpet of the hotel, too dark and with little yellow stars every few inches. Still, she made sure to savor the color, because she was certain that, wherever they were going, it was not going be pretty. In the lobby, there were cameras recording their passage into GREM custody. None attempted to shout questions, or crowd closer. The fully armored and fully armed soldiers, eight in all, made all of the journalists docile as sheep. They lined the carpet, for to each side, from elevator to the main doors outside.

The soldiers were decked out in full garb, covered head to toe in cloth, but the bottom half of their heads: the mouth and start of the neck. Otherwise, they were wearing helmets, goggles, and the same metal plate armor she saw on them from when they stopped the Utonium car outside their home. They were not all holding the same weapon, but all of them looked like rifles of some kind.

Buttercup felt as if they were walking down death row, up next for execution. Maybe they were. She took Bubble's hand. She was still shaking from breakfast. They were being taken away from their only parent and protector. It was okay to be scared. Blossom lead the way, still annoyed at dad for some reason. She wished the two would make up before they got into the prisoner transport, but it didn't seem likely.

Pacing slowly through the lobby, there was a chorus of clicks from cameras, but overall, silence. The doors to the lobby opened on their own, admitting free sunlight and more soldiers lining the way towards what looked like a flatbed truck with very plain removable container, all white. It was like those storage containers that were advertised on TV, the ones that could be dropped on your drive way, loaded up, and then taken away again, by the same truck.

The back of the container opened and stairs extended down. This was how the sisters were to leave their home and dad behind. They walked down to the back of the truck. The inside looked particularly plain. It was clear that the inside of the container was much smaller than the outside. Both the walls were far thicker than Buttercup would expected, and it was only fifteen feet deep, when the outside showed at least twenty five feet. From what Buttercup could see, there were literally just two benches, one along each wall, built in to the wall. Here, the guards motioned for the Professor to stay back. Each of the girls turned, and looked at him, giving him a hug, even Blossom. Once the hug was over, the girls climbed into the back of the truck.

They had been planning on sitting next to each other, on one side, but one of the soldiers climbing into the back of the truck motioned for Bubbles to sit on the opposite side as her sisters. Each girl sat down. Six soldiers total climbed into the back with them. They watched the girls through fancy goggles which Buttercup usually thought were made for night missions. Before any of the men sat down , the door to the trailer slowly lowered, shutting out the last light of the rising down. The girls watched it close, and saw their Professor slowly disappear.

The door closed with a clanking finality, and they could hear what had to be three or four locks set into place. Two bright light bulbs activated above them. There was a tinkling of light chain, and Buttercup could see that the men had all pulled out three sets of handcuffs, made out of unusually shiny metal. The handcuff rings were small enough to fit around their wrists tightly, she could already tell.

Without anyone needing to say a word, the sisters extended their hands, knowing what was coming. The sound of six ratcheting wrist cuffs filled the air. Following that, the soldiers placing the handcuffs on their wrists lifted the remaining chain to attach it to a bar above their heads, forcing them to sit with their backs straight, and keep their arms in the air.

It was an uncomfortable pose, and Buttercup adjusted a little as the soldiers sat down. Three soldiers sat down on each side, one between Buttercup and Blossom, and a soldier on the far side. Two sat on Bubble's left, and one on her right. The sisters looked at each other. Bubbles was clearly trying to stay calm and Blossom kept her mostly stoic face, though she did seem a little more concerned than usual. Buttercup tried to look bored, though it was feat while the chained to the ceiling.

The idling truck began to move. Buttercup wondered where they were going. She asked. "Where are we-"

A curt reply cut her off, "No talking unless spoken to."

Buttercup decided it would be prudent to stay quiet.

The girls rode in silence, the soldiers watching them carefully the entire time, as if the sisters were liable to become dangerous at the drop of a hat. This was how it stayed a long time.

It might have been forty five minutes when Buttercup was more than just looking bored. She _was_ bored.

Buttercup shifted a little, and looked up at the cufflinks above her. There was very little slack, but enough that she could swing her arms a little. It was enough give for her use her strength if she needed to. The bar above was made of the same shiny metal as the cufflinks. She wondered what kind of metal it was. She pulled a little on the metal bar, wondering if it would give if she tried. As she did so, she heard the soldiers around her shift.

The two of the men on the opposite side, next to Bubbles, was aiming their guns at her. They were not normal rifles, she could see that. They looked like one of the newer energy pulse weapons that were beginning to replace normal military ordinance. Buttercup thought they looked twice as well designed as Mojo Jojo's weapons, and probably were more powerful. Buttercup released the tension in her arms and opened her hands in surrender.

As if she didn't understand, one of the soldiers said, "Don't move unless authorized." Buttercup nodded. What else was she supposed to do when faced with that?

The girls were quiet and docile the rest of the trip.

* * *

They were unarguably thorough. They all felt the semi-truck come to a stop. There were noises and scuffling outside. They, all as one, felt the trailer of the semi rise, lifting it off of the flat bed. All of this work was an attempt to mask their location from the Powerpuff Girls. Likely to prevent an escape attempt.

Blossom was even a little lost. As they all heard the semi drive off, the container was slowly dropped to the ground. Her best guess was that they were near Citiesville, likely at the Citiesville Lab. Still, the hour and a thirty seven minute drive was more than enough to put them on the far side of Citiesville, or further. No other major cities were closer than three hours, however, so unless the semi was really booking it, they had to be around Citiesville or Townsville.

The containment block that held them "thunked" as it hit the ground. None of the soldiers moved. They were well-trained. The one that kept an eye on her didn't flinch once as Blossom stared back at him, blinking as rarely as she could. She wondered if someone was watching her watch him through the camera no doubt placed in his goggles. She was honestly just trying to learn more about GREM as a whole, and the lack of response was surprisingly telling.

There was some signal, and three of the soldiers, the three that had not yet put chains on the girls, pulled out another set, a little larger, and a command was issued. "Put your feet out, one foot apart." Blossom watched her watcher, following commands. The second set of chains was placed around her ankles, which would only let them shuffle. The metal was probably mithrium, or invincibilium, or any other of the new metals being designed for military and industrial use. She was certain they used the same, or similar, metal to contain monsters, or even rogue super-humans.

The chain holding the sisters' arms above their heads were unlocked from the bar. The excess chain, which Blossom hoped would be removed, instead connected their wrist chains and ankle chains together. Bubbles sighed a breath of relief, and Blossom knew why. The blood slowly rushed back into the tips of her fingers, where it had long felt absent.

Of course, now, she could barely lift her arms more than a few inches without yanking her feet up with them. Once each of the sisters were properly secured, the doors to the container slowly opened revealing… what appeared to be a solid concrete floor and wall, but otherwise, a completely barren room. It was a large area, maybe a hundred yards by eighty yards, the roof crisscrossed with cranes to unload and load, with two vehicle entrances, both of them blocked off now by large steel doors. About twenty yards away, there were smaller doors, made for people that lead further into the complex.

They were obviously underground. She didn't know for sure how far, but certainly far enough that it would be dangerous for her to attempt to fly straight up, where normal buildings would buckle before she would.

The girls were escorted towards the solid metal door, from which a ticking noise was coming from. Just as they step up, a large clank was heard, and the door swung inward, revealing a room that was all white. On either side of the room were windows, heavily mirrored to prevent the girls from seeing through them.

The soldiers directed the girls to step inside. Blossom lead the way, as Buttercup and Bubbles followed. The wall opposite had another imposing metal door, as sturdily built as the one they entered through, more than a foot thick. Blossom was impressed by the security here. If Townsville Prison had been half as good, the Powerpuff Girls would not have had to work so hard to keep Mojo Jojo and the like in jail. Blossom wondered what these people expected to find out about the Powerpuff Girls here.

* * *

Bubbles had trouble staying afraid for what felt like three hours in the truck, but once they stopped, her fears returned. She hadn't told her sisters, but on Sunday evening, while the others were doing their interviews, she had looked up what sort of internment there was for monsters under the Neo-Tokyo Protocol. She wished she hadn't. Most of it was secret hush-hush government stuff, but some internet guy had posted nearly a thousand classified documents on the topic.

Bubbles only saw a few, but all of it was horrifying. They were treated worse than animals to the slaughter. Several activist groups were trying to garner support, but when there is still a daily segment on national news about monster attacks, they haven't had any luck. When Bubbles heard they were being classified as monsters, she was certain they would be treated like rogue experiments, dissected and destroyed.

Even now, as they are being herded into the sterile room, she shook. The chains forced the girls to keep their arms low and sort of shuffle, not even allowing them to walk normally. She couldn't understand how Blossom could stay so detached, who surely knew even more than Bubbles. She was acting as if they were walking to school!

Buttercup seemed a little bored and a little curious, but not worried. Bubbles couldn't bear to tell her what could happen to them. Maybe she should have told her anyway, but Bubbles didn't want her tense and worried. It would be safest if they all acted normal, be honest, and wait for daddy and Mr. Loks to save them.

In the center of the room, the girls watched as the door towards the container - and freedom - closed without assistance, silent on well-oiled hinges. The foot-thick door shut with a slight metal clang, and machinery on the inside began to cycle the lock. With a final, louder clang, the door was locked and the girls were locked inside.

Silence, then a small hissing noise, and Bubbles jumped a moment, as some unseen gas started to fill the room. From an unseen speaker, a flat robotic voice spoke, "Do not move. Decontamination cycle beginning." Bubbles relaxed, slowing her breath. Both of her sisters looked at her like she had been jumping for no reason. Couldn't they hear the hiss?

There was nothing for a while, but for the hissing. As far as she could tell, it didn't do anything. Finally, that voice spoke again, a monotone voice that clearly came from a machine. "Please stand back from the inner door. Do not move suddenly. When the door opens, follow the men to the next station."

The second door, the one opposite the door they had entered, began to clank open. When it swung free of the doorframe, Bubbles was a little confused at what she saw at first. It had looked like a robot with a mirror-shiny metal on it. Then she realized it was some sort of suit, with tiny reflectors all over it… like a disco-ball Hazmat suit, or something. She didn't get it at first, but it must have been to protect against their laser vision… maybe?

The figure looked at them through the mirror visor then turned around to lead them down a featureless white corridor. They shuffled along behind him, passing a few passages, and some sealed doors, until they reached an open room.

The open room looked like and extremely Spartan and sterile shower room. There were stalls with curtains and shower heads in them, along with what looked like a small plastic coverall inside. As they stepped in, two more of the mirror clad men stepped in from outside, each standing in front of a girl, who were lined up against the white wall. The voice rose again from somewhere in the ceiling above, like an intercom system, "Stand still while your manacles are removed." The girls stood still, as the silver figure they had followed, and the two new ones, pulled a key from one of the pockets on their figure, and began to unlock all of their chains. Apparently they were no longer a danger to those around them.

"Please step into a separate stall, close the curtain and remove all clothing and accessories, placing them in the receptacles for them. There is a gown inside each stall to be worn once disrobed."

Bubbles shivered. It was beginning. Soon they would be treated like… like those poor people in Germany, so many years ago. Despite her slowly building tears, Bubbles stepped into one of the stalls, of which there were eight total. She closed the curtain and put the gown on first, which was completely opaque and covered everything. She took off her shoes and socks, her dress and everything else, including the hair ties holding her pigtails in place. Without them, her hair hung lanky and kinked, a little longer than Buttercup's own hair. Everything she had on her was placed into the plastic tubs. Everything she was, or, rather, everything that showed who she was, beyond her blonde hair and blue eyes, was in those grey tubs.

The white-grey gown was long, covering down to her shins, but there were no shoes to protect her feet from the cold concrete floor. She already imagined that this would be her garb until the end of her days. She couldn't help the shaking, and her vision was blurry as quiet tears streamed down her face. She was worried that if she sobbed, she might get into more trouble.

She was the last to slide the curtain open, and stepped outside. The figure who appeared to be in charge her, Bubbles couldn't tell if it was male or female. They looked into the stall and began to rifle through all her things, as if looking for something. Bubbles could faintly hear muffled words, as if the figure was talking; Bubbles guessed it was into a radio. He finished looking through her things, spoke a few more words, then his silver plate of a visor looked at her. The voice above spoke again, "Please remove _all _accessories." There was an emphasis on the "all". Why was everyone looking at her? Were her tears now accessories, ones that she had to spill into the bucket until she stopped?

After some quiet, slowly intensifying moments passed, Blossom spoke up, just three words. "Bubbles, your contacts." A swift moment of realization, and Bubbles felt all of her willpower leave her. Crying harder but still without sobbing, she reached her hands up to remove the glass contacts in her eyes.

Years ago, her vision slowly became blurry. It came to a point where she could barely see but for blurs and double vision. When it became so bad, the professor gave her some glasses, for which her sisters teased her mercilessly for wearing. Bubbles refused to wear them, until she had to. To save her sisters trapped in the mandibles of a giant ant. The glasses seemed to magnify the laser beams that emitted from her eyes, and vaporized the colossal insect. Later in the lab, as Buttercup was reenacting the battle, she shot a pair of beams from her eyes, which bounced off of various surfaces, before hitting Bubbles in her own glasses-clad eyes. Bubbles had been knocked from her feet, and the glasses destroyed.

As Buttercup apologized profusely, Bubbles opened her eyes to see that she could see clearly again. The beams had done what laser eye correction does for most others. For a while. Bubbles had never told anyone else, but her vision had grown worse and worse, and one evening, she told the Professor, crying and afraid Buttercup would be sad, and that she would have to wear those awful looking glasses again.

Daddy fashioned some glass contacts, ones that she could keep in. Most people would have to take them out at night, but with her powers and endurance, it shouldn't be a problem. She had to tell Blossom, so that the red Powerpuff wouldn't make her use her heat vision in fights, for it would destroy the contacts in her eyes, worsening her vision and hurting a lot. But she never told Buttercup, because, at the time, Buttercup had just been kicked off the soccer team. Bubbles didn't want her to hurt anymore, and the topic hadn't come up since. Until now, of course.

Bubbles dug her finger into her eyes, prying the glass contacts out painfully. It took a lot of effort, made harder by her crying. When she finally had them both out, and had dropped them into the tub, Bubbles looked around the blur filled room, until she found the black splotch she was fairly certain had to be Buttercup's hair. Bubbles gave her an apologetic look, but it broke quickly, with a sob. Bubbles covered her mouth with her hands, biting back her tears and looking down. Her tears continued to stream, but she wouldn't make more noise than she had to.

Not only was she going to be cut apart and stuff by these people, she wouldn't even get to see it. There were more words from the intercom. "Thank you. Please follow the attendants to the next station." Bubbles was surprised by the "thank you", maybe the person watching was feeling guilty. Or maybe they were trying to lull her into complacency before they do the next horrible thing.

* * *

Buttercup was close to decking these bozos and taking her and her sisters out of there. Bubbles didn't deserve to be treated like this! Bubbles was so good, really, the best of the sisters. If anyone deserved to be free of this mess, it is her. Buttercup was so angry at them! She remained calm though. All they wanted was for one of them to freak out, and the Professor would end up in jail, and her and her sisters would end up… well… Buttercup didn't know what would happen to the sisters. Maybe they would be stuck in a place like this permanently. If that was the case, Buttercup wouldn't be staying long, that's for sure.

Most of all, however, Buttercup was feeling really bad. She didn't even know Bubbles needed contacts. And then Bubbles looked at her all sorry, like Bubbles herself was to blame! It was Buttercup's fault, through and through. She felt almost bad enough to not be annoyed by everything in this place.

Everything. The walls were an annoying shade of white. Those suits were annoyingly reflecting the harsh fluorescent lights above. Worse of all the coveralls given to the girls made an annoying plastic almost squeak with every pace. And the floor was cold too! Buttercup could have spent the whole time enumerating all the problems with this place, but it seemed rather moot with Bubbles sobbing ahead of them. Buttercup sighed, wishing she could give her sister a hug. Give both her sisters a hug.

They both looked strange without their hair adornments, let alone their dresses. Buttercup probably looked strange wearing the weird ugly off-white coverall poncho thing with arm holes. But seeing both Blossom's and Bubbles's hair down loose was all wrong. This place was just bad all over. She looked ahead. Maybe Dad and the lawyer will get them out soon. Maybe she would be able to plays sports again too. As if. Buttercup sighed again. She hoped her sisters weren't as emotionally troubled as she was right now.


	11. Ch 11: Tests of Endurance

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 11:

**Tests of Endurance**

They were brought to another room- four lefts and a right from the entrance. Inside were three chairs shaped like those at a blood drive, with padded cupped armrests and a rotating table to hold various items. The rest of the room looked like a well-equipped doctor's office, or maybe even a lab, with many cabinets all around. Blossom expected as much. But for now she had a bigger concern. She glanced at Bubbles.

Bubbles's vision must have been much worse than Blossom thought. Either that, or her tears made seeing basic shapes nigh impossible. As they walked, Bubbles had careened into a corner as they turned left. She let out a meep of pain, but otherwise continued on without word. If it came to escape, Blossom considered it would be a great challenge with Bubbles being nearly incapacitated by her poor vision.

Blossom already began to climb into the chair as the voice from the intercom spoke, "Please take a seat and relax as several blood and tissue samples are obtained." Blossom took her seat and calmly placed her arm into the rest made for it. At this point, they seem to be taking a very cautious sterile approach. They seemed to be as afraid of the Powerpuff Girls. As afraid as Bubbles seemed to be of them. Buttercup was probably scared too, but she would acquiesce until the lab workers did something extreme. The men in the electromagnetic deflection suits waited several feet away, so as to not crowd them.

Bubbles had whimpered when it was mentioned that blood and tissue samples were going to be taken. She had a lot of trouble climbing into the chair, seeming unable to gauge the distance between places she could grip. Finally, she got so frustrated that she levitated up and sat back into the chair. Two of the men in the EM suits stepped back but otherwise there was no reaction from them, not even a sound. Buttercup spoke up, saying, "It will be okay, Bubbles. Don't worry."

Empty words, and at a cost. The voice came up again, saying, "Please, refrain from using your powers and talking." Blossom relaxed in the adjustable chair. This was the easy part. Soon the more difficult tasks would be at hand.

* * *

Bubbles didn't care that she broke rules. She couldn't see anything and they were going to drain her like a vampire, probably. She didn't even care anymore. Her crying began to slow, and she tried to figure out what was going on around them, as her eyes were veritably useless now.

When she had floated into the chair, she could hear the muffled exclamations from those in the suits. They had been surprised. She didn't know why. They were the ones who stole her vision. She had been told to get into the chair. She did as they instructed. Bubbles sat in the chair and tried very hard to relax.

One of the shielded suits began to pull things out of the drawers behind them. They placed the items on the tray attached to the chair. She couldn't see what they were, but she guessed at least one of them was a needle, and she saw four blurry colored things on the table. She didn't spend time guessing what they were; she had no idea. She heard a package torn open, and the man in the suit calmly motioned to the air beside her chair. Bubbles blinked at the blurry shapes. Even though the man was maybe two feet away, she still couldn't see the individual mirrored scales on the suit.

Finally, he calmly grabbed her arm and gently placed it into the armrest, placing the inside of her arm up. Bubbles didn't take offense, glad that he finally got the hint that she couldn't understand his sign language. He opened some package, and began to rub her arm, leaving some sort of orange splotch, which he later wiped up. During this bizarre ritual, Bubbles sat silently; her tears used up for now. She did flinch though when the needle pierced her skin, and wondered what her sisters were thinking about all this.

* * *

Buttercup saw the four tubes, each with a different colored cap. It didn't seem like a lot, but Buttercup couldn't remember the last time she had lost so much blood. Was it the time with the needle monster ten months ago? Definitely the time they had to fight that threshing blade machine sent by Mojo Jojo, but that was a year ago or more. It seemed like so little blood to lose. It seemed inconsequential, really, in comparison to all the fights she had been in before.

Prepared for the worst, the needle entered with a little pain, but far less painful than the snake thin. Which happened… just less than two weeks ago? Wow. She hadn't fought any monsters, but human ones, in that entire time. The longest vacation she had ever not wanted. The man in the suit attached the tube to the other end of the needle, filling it. Once all four were filled for each sister, the tubes were placed in three different chests which she bet were filled with ice. A quick peek with X-ray vision, confirmed it. She pushed her vision a little harder, and realized that she couldn't see through the walls, or the suits the men wore. Suddenly, they all looked at her.

That voice from above spoke up. "Refrain from using your powers. This is your last warning."

Holy crap, they knew she was using X-ray vision? She turned it off, quick, simply saying "Sorry!" She expected that they would get mad at her for talking, but once she settled in her chair, perhaps a little lower than before, they seemed to relax.

After taking the needles out, they took some skin samples, followed by some hair and then even some of their saliva. She had no idea what they were going to test, but they certainly grabbed everything they could. When Blossom, ever calm, said, "I require access to the restroom", the man collecting some hair jumped a moment, not expecting the words. He looked up, as if to God, and then he went to the cabinets, pulling out a plastic cup and lid. He handed it to Blossom, and motioned to a metal framed curtain in the corner of the room. Blossom seemed amused by this cryptic gesture, and calmly got out of the chair to behind the curtain. Buttercup couldn't believe it, but they were even collecting urine samples. These people were crazy. It's not like the secret to their powers was hidden in their pee!

When the samples were apparently collected enough to complete their menagerie, the voice came down again. "Please follow your respective caretakers." She thought that was all, but the voice continued a second later, "You will be reunited for dinner later today."

Buttercup hadn't even considered that they might not be returned to each other later. Buttercup saw that Bubbles shivering had grown markedly worse, rattling her plain white coveralls and making her kinked and thin blonde hair shiver and shake in front of her face. Once the words were spoken, Bubbles took a deep breath and the shivering slowed.

Buttercup decided to defy the rules, saying, "Don't worry, Bubbles. It will be okay." Blue eyes stared in the general direction of Buttercup, and seemed to give the barest hint of a nod.

With only the barest reprimand - "Please, no speaking until permitted" - the girls were led off into different directions, deep into the depths of the unerringly white hallways.

Buttercup was lead to a fairly small room, one with just a couch, a desk and an oversized chair clearly made for someone wearing the suit, set behind the desk. There were mirrors on all the walls but for the one with the door. The couch was barely padded, more a frame than anything else. The suited person motioned for Buttercup to get onto the couch as he sat in the chair. As he began opening drawers and pulling things out of the table, the voice came on again. "Soon, your caretaker will show you an image. Please say the first thing that comes to mind to describe the image."

Buttercup was confused. Of course, she would play along, watching her "caretaker" pull out a stack of cards, each the size of a normal piece of paper. He flipped up the first card.

Buttercup's confusion was not alleviated. "It… ah… looks like a pen exploded on the piece of paper."

* * *

Blossom's smile, which had been faint when the words of the voice fell upon them, was now wide. She was certain it would make them nervous. She didn't care. They were wasting time giving her the Rorschach inkblot test. Following this will be a basic Turing test, an empathy test, then Domitov's Sentience Measure. They were doing everything by the book.

When the first card was held up, she spoke calmly: "A Butterfly." The next card: "A fox." And the next card.

Once the test finished, before they moved on to the Turing test, the voice came on again, asking, "What is so amusing, Blossom?"

Blossom quirked her eyebrows at this. They were on first name basis now, were they? She replied, "I already know the answers to most of these tests. They were leaked onto the 'net eight months ago. I made it an effort to make sure I understood the tests, so I could better understand the monsters I fought. You are wasting your time here."

The voice ignored her, apparently uninterested in her opinion, and rattled off the next instructions for the next test. She kept smiling. She loved it when she knew all the answers to a test. It was even better when she knew what questions were going to be asked as well.

* * *

Bubbles squinted harder. "I… I can't see it from here… can you move it closer?"

She heard the faint indecipherable noise of the man inside the suit saying something. A moment of silence, then the man got up and went around to the other side of the table, just in front of Bubbles, and held the card. She squinted again. "I… it looks like a splotch of ink, but I think I can see a pair of trees in it." This was apparently a good answer, and they moved onto the next card.

Soon they finished this test, all of them blurry splotches on paper, and then went onto the next test, which seemed to be someone trying to figure out if she was able hold a conversation. The final test was on paper.

Bubbles was hopelessly unable to read the test, and was about to give up in frustration, when the sound of the door opening behind her gave her a shock. She turned around to see another suited man, holding a pair of oversized glasses, as if made for adults. The man offered Bubbles the glasses, which was apparently supposed to help her.

She took them, and awkwardly tried to put them on, and they fell off. She then picked them up and held the glasses to her head, looking through the lenses at the paper. She could finally make out the words, though the letters were still skewed and blurry. Still, she held the glasses to her eyes with her left hand, and circled her answers which seemed to all be about emotions. Once she finished with that test, they gave her another paper test.

She finished all of these, and offered the glasses back to the suited man, the one that was her caretaker. She figured he could get the glasses back to the friendly person who lent them.

He took the glasses and put them in the desk, before motioning for her to follow him again to somewhere new. She did so, trusting that the shimmering blur ahead of her would not lead her into a wall, because she couldn't discern the walls from the floors very well.

They got to a new test chamber, this one that contained… a treadmill?

* * *

"Please step onto the treadmill and keep pace as it activates."

Buttercup wondered if a prank was being played on her. "O—okay…." She stepped onto the treadmill, glancing to the side where the door was, seeing that her "caretaker" was leaving the room. The wall opposite the door was another mirror. She guessed they had to be one-way mirrors, so they could keep an eye on her, just like in cop shows.

The door "thunked" closed, and the treadmill started suddenly, surprising her. But it was just at a walking pace. Buttercup walked for several minutes, before the treadmill began to speed up slowly, to a fast jog for most adults. It was nothing for her, moving at a fast loping run, and she didn't even begin to breath hard. Another few minutes, and they sped it up again, this time, to a sprinting speed for most adult. Now Buttercup had to lean forward a little, feeling the air really start to flow though her lungs.

They sped it up again, and she felt the muscles begin to burn in her legs and arms. Now, she could fly much faster than this, but running had its own pleasures. Unlike flying, she could feel the burn. Even when she played soccer, moving at the slow normal speed, by the end, she could feel her muscles just mildly exhausted. It was why she chose to play soccer. Soccer is the most exhausting activity one can engage in, outside of monster fighting.

They upped the speed again, and again. She felt like she was racing an express train. Her breath was becoming labored and she ran. She looked at the mirror to be suddenly shocked, nearly losing her footing. Behind her, she could see there was a faint green blur. How could it be green? She wasn't wearing her dress, but this ugly white coverall. Yet behind her, that blur was definitely green.

Wait… did Blossom say something about this? What was it she said? Sometime a year ago… something about light? She had been talking about rapidly decaying particles of light or something, when they reached a certain speed. It didn't make any sense at the time, and besides, she had been writing a story at the time. Buttercup didn't bother listening much.

She didn't have much time to contemplate the light, as they sped up the machine again. Now she had to focus. Any faster and she would have to start using her ability to levitate to make her steps go further. They sped it up again and she started bouncing a little, keeping herself in the air for a hairsbreadth of a moment. The voice came on, saying "We will be slowing the treadmill. Don't be alarmed."

Buttercup appreciated the warning, her breath was coming in fast, and she would have run straight into the wall ten feet away if they hadn't warned her. She was a little relieved when it slowed down. She was breathing hard, like she had been a good fight.

She finally stepped off of it when it stopped, and the door opened again, revealing, presumably, the same person who had lead her around before. "Please follow to the next chamber once you have caught your breath." Buttercup nodded, her breath returning quickly.

She followed them to another chamber, completely empty. It was a smaller room, completely cylindrical, and covered in white and black panels. The door was shut behind her, the caretaker leaving her alone again, and the voice said, "Please levitate five feet above the ground."

Buttercup's brows furrowed, "That's it?"

She didn't get an answer, but figured she would go along with it. She floated into the center of the room, about five feet up. She stayed like that for what seemed like a whole hour.

Then they took her to another chamber, asking her to hold her breath underwater as long as she could, and then some more.

By the time it seemed like ten hours had passed, after so many tests, Buttercup was tired. Not unbearably so, but all the tests wore on her, and when it was announced they were going to eat next, she let out a sigh of relief.

She was hungry, and after all this, she was ready to see her sisters.

* * *

"Dinner" was what looked like bad mushy porridge and water. Blossom was mildly hungry, but she felt it was just a reaction to the years spent eating. She had long suspected that she and her sisters were eating out of habit, not requirement. Not for the short term, at least.

They had been told not to talk about the tests administered, and that they would have thirty minutes to talk, before sleeping in separate chambers.

They gave each other hugs, and each of them asked about Bubbles. She was doing better than earlier, but was still certain things would get worse. Blossom couldn't imagine why; she had never told Bubbles how bad this could become for them. Usually she only panics this badly when she actually knew what was going on. She had only mentioned it once, to the professor last week.

Before Blossom could follow that chain of thought any further, Buttercup asked her, "How long have we been here?"

Blossom looked back at her, asked, "Did you mean since we arrived here, or since we have been taken by the Global Regiment for Extrahuman Management?" Buttercup rolled her eyes, and Blossom knew what she meant. She smiled, saying, "It has been fourteen hours and ten minutes since entering their custody, or twelve hours and thirty five minutes since we have entered this compound."

Bubbles sighed, "Just four hours more then." Blossom didn't say anything, but Buttercup said, "Yeah, as long as that lawyer is a good as he says he is."

Blossom sighed mentally. Bubbles nodded, "Yeah he is. Blossom said so. Right?"

Blossom smiled at her, to make her feel better, and said, "Absolutely." She wasn't going to tell Bubbles the truth. Bubbles was smarter than she was given credit. She would find the truth far before eighteen hours had passed, now that Buttercup had planted the seed.

* * *

Bubbles lie awake in the cot given to them. The bed could scarcely be called a bed, with just a bedframe with a plastic surface and the barest minimum of a threadbare pillow.

In the room was a toilet as well, plastic and easily broken if she wanted to. Intended for use, but she couldn't use it as a weapon or something. These people really thought they were monsters. She sighed. She stared up at the ceiling, what she could see of it. She hadn't slept. She didn't know how long it has been. She was not good at keeping time. She lay awake, knowing they knew she was awake.

She didn't care. She wouldn't sleep until daddy came to save them. She held out all night, staring at the ceiling.

The door chamber opened. In its place was her caretaker. He carried himself a little taller. She popped her head off the cot to look at him. She heard the crackle of the speakers activating before the voice came on again. "Please follow your caretaker to the next test chamber."


	12. Ch 12: Separation Anxiety

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 12:

**Separation Anxiety**

The second day of testing started with a reading comprehension test. It was laughable really, but Blossom was still enjoying every moment. The last time she took one of these tests, the elementary school program ran out of difficulty before Blossom even began to struggle. This one, however, was clearly made on a scale for older children. She decided to spend only one minute on each problem. She usually needed only seconds to read the passage and define the word. But she was mostly just messing with the proctors now, wondering how they would react to her timing.

Yesterday, she had spent most of the tests talking about she knew about the various tests they were forcing her to take. She spoke of their land speed, and what she knew about their levitation abilities, and about how far into the infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths she could see. She decided today that she would be quiet, just to change things up.

Blossom was not, however, a font of infinite knowledge, despite how her sisters thought of her. In fact, while she was born with a knowledge of English that exceeded that of most adults, Blossom did not understand all words in English. Some of these words were becoming more and more like their Latin and French and German base words. She just didn't know those languages. Eventually she reached the limit of her knowledge of English.

Actually, Bubbles could probably do better on these tests than Blossom, if she would put her mind to it. Bubbles was born with almost every human language in her, as well as animals. But Bubbles doesn't her use knowledge and doesn't exert the effort that kind of effort often, which is why Blossom was always considered the smart one. Blossom had planned on spending one year of her life committed to learning languages.

They went to the next chamber, where she was asked to use her heat vision to melt a bar of iron. She liked these tests, and wondered if they would let her look at the results afterwards. She doubted it, which was too bad. She hadn't really thought to measure the intensity of heat that came from her eyes, likely because she simply didn't have the tools.

It took her until the third hour of the second day of testing to realize why she was enjoying herself so much. It was nice here. Well, it was particularly drab and colorless, but the people here… they respected her. Sure, they probably feared her too, but that was a novel experience as well. No one really respected or feared Blossom until General Grimaldi arrived.

None of the various villains of the Powerpuff Girls' history fighting crime ever feared or respected Blossom as a whole. She was the mediating, rational, and nice Powerpuff Girl. Buttercup garnered a lot of fear, and Mojo, that maniacal and mechanical genius of a monkey, professed real fear of Bubbles ever since she lost her temper… but Blossom has never been outright feared by even the villains she beat up, let alone respected by them.

Here, these people understood. They understood that super power was respectable, and genius was respectable. Together… Well. She was enjoying the individual attention none the less. They returned to the same chamber as the computer with the reading test. This time, they were giving her a basic IQ test.

She laughed, actually laughed. Blossom was pretty sure that she had startled her escort who was closing the door behind her as she laughed. Blossom was beyond IQ tests. But she followed through, doing all the stupid little mind puzzles and games. This time she moved as fast as possible, knowing that time also played a factor in the test score.

It was over in minutes. She waited for the announcement go to the next test chamber. She glanced at the one-way mirrors. She smiled innocently at it. She knew her X-ray vision could penetrate the glass. You can't leaden the windows and make them see-through at the same time. But she decided not to test them. Yet. She did want to know what the delay was for them to move on to the next chamber.

Finally, after thirty two minutes of silence, word came down from above. "Blossom, please follow your escort." That was surprisingly short. Usually, they would add "to the next test chamber." And never before had they used her name. Was something new happening?

She felt a tingle run up her spine. She was feeling something she rarely ever felt. Excitement, true and pure excitement. Ever since things had begun to pick up, ever since they left for Citysville, things were changing. Blossom liked that. She didn't like that she wasn't in control. Change, however, was nice.

And now she was being presented with a new change. With a thoughtful glance at the mirrors again, she stood and followed the man in the electromagnetic deflection suit.

* * *

Bubbles was exhausted. She hadn't slept, and there was no rest for the tests. They made her fly around in a loop, faster and faster, until she began to hit the wall again and again, not able to see where it was. They finally stopped the tests, then asked her do simpler things, like lifting weights and bending metal bars. It wasn't too hard, and nothing they gave her was beyond her ability to lift. However, there was some shiny metal, a bar almost like silver, but with more blue, that was impossible for her to bend. She wondered what kind of metal it was.

Suddenly, as she was trying to lift another bar, she heard the almost imperceptible hiss of the intercom, and the sound of steps outside the soundproof door. The voice spoke, "Please follow your escort."

Bubbles nodded to no one in particular, placed the bar down softly, then turned to the opening door. She stepped out of the room and followed the man in the suit. They walked far into the compound. Finally, they came to a door. It opened into a small room with another door. The door closed behind her, then the door ahead of them opened. The next room was huge, and darker than the others. It was the underground garage. She couldn't see what was in there. But she heard a heartbeat she had memorized and the breathing of someone whom she had lived with all her life.

She broke down. Instantly devolving into tears, Bubbles cried out, "Daddy!" She couldn't see him, but she could find that heartbeat by sound. She flew to him hitting him harder than she intended. The Professor wrapped his arms around herand another form, one Bubbles could tell was Buttercup. He hugged them, and they hugged her.

Bubbles was safe again. Free from the threats of torture and dissection and death and safe in her father's arms. She was crying, already covering his coat with snot and tears, so thankful to be free. Something, however, niggled at her senses. Something was wrong. She didn't want to think about it. She pushed out of her mind for a few minutes, just savoring the warm embrace of someone who loved her, and freed her from this place.

But the feeling wouldn't go away long. Finally, what was bothering her came to her in a sudden rush. She choked back another sob, saying suddenly, "Where is Blossom!"

* * *

Blossom was taken back to the chamber that they used to give the her the psychological tests. The door was already open when they approached it. Blossom could see that there was someone already inside. She smiled again. She knew who it was immediately. As she stepped into the room, she bowed magnanimously, "Greetings, General Grimaldi. How has your week been?"

It had been almost exactly one week since she last met this man, the man who didn't see her as just a five year old, or just a superhero. He seemed amused, and replied, "Passable. You three fight monsters that make even my men pause. Please, take a seat."

She took him up on his offer, climbing into the chair with relative ease. "I suspect it has to do with the monster harvesting industry we have here. All that blood in the harbor attracts them. It's a vicious cycle." She settled in the chair and faced him. "But this is not about monsters in Townsville. This is about me. I am not leaving this facility, am I?"

Blossom had been expecting and planning on this since Wednesday night. Every step the Utonium family has taken was predetermined by GREM and whoever is pulling their strings. Being here was an inevitable outcome, and so was being freed. That is why Blossom decided to act as subtly different as she could. She wanted to be here. It was far more interesting here than outside anyway, where she was still a child and unable to help with adult manners.

Grimaldi nodded, saying, "We actually stopped the harvesting industry in Townsville. Government code is to incinerate monster remains. Actually, that it is also why Citysville is so rarely attacked, because all the monsters come to Townsville… No. You are not leaving. I am sorry to say so. My lieutenants were extremely concerned for my wellbeing, but I wanted to give you this news personally. They were worried that you might react poorly." The older gentleman gave her a measuring look, as if this were a question, and not a statement.

Blossom blinked, "I have no plans of defying an organization as powerful as GREM at the moment. Even if I were angry, hurting you would not assist me any way. GREM does not negotiate with hostage takers, and I have little idea of where I am, so I couldn't escape on my own."

Her comment made him laugh, and she smiled in return, pleasantly. "Oh, Blossom. I find it hard to believe that you don't know where you are. We Gremlins notice far more than most. Just like you," his tone was friendly, but subtly humored. This was probably the most involved conversation that Blossom has ever been in. Maybe it came down to being spoken to like an adult. He continued, "Off hand, does the name Beatrice Behira Bedford mean anything to you?"

Blossom shook her head, "Nothing. So I am to be detained here until the trial itself begins." She was mentally annoyed she didn't recognize the name. She didn't press, as she didn't want to draw any more attention to her ignorance as possible. Right now, she was right where they wanted her. Right now, they were right where she wanted them. They continued their talk, "So, let me guess. I am being classified as a-"

* * *

"-As a Class six sentient extrahuman. That means she is considered of higher base intelligence than human means, and is able to use her powers for methods of mass destruction." Mr. Loks finished, as they drove out of the lab into some countryside areas, with Citysville visible in the distance. They were in a van, of some sort, with one of Mr. Loks's assistants driving the van

"That's bullshit!" Buttercup shouted. She was furious. "We are going back. We are going back now and we will level that damned place, until we find our sister. We don't leave family behind!"

The professor tried to interject with a "Buttercup!" but he was cut off by Mr. Loks. "Listen to me, Buttercup! You are not the good guy here! Townsville loves you girls, but the rest of the world depends on GREM constantly! They protect Neo-Tokyo on a daily basis. They kept New York from being flattened by that Cloverplains monster every year! GREM saves lives from those things that no ordinary human can begin to fight!"

His sudden outburst surprised everyone in the car but his assistant, who continued to drive, and Bubbles, who was sleeping in the Professor's lap. The lawyer was panting, "If you go back there and so much as lay a finger on a GREM soldier, you will undo everything I have worked for. You will no longer be a five year old with special powers to the global community. You will be a monster that is attacking the organization that saves tens of thousands of lives annually! You might as well declare war on the Red Cross and the Boy Scouts too!"

Buttercup watched Mr. Loks, realization dawning on her face. She really wasn't the good guy in this trial. GREM was trying to carry out their duties, and her and her sisters were just more monsters to worry about. The idea hadn't actually hit her until now. She nodded. "Okay… Okay… What do we do now, to save her?"

The lawyer sighed, "First, I get some sleep. I haven't had any for… how much time has it been now, number two?"

The assistant spoke, sounding almost humored, "Since two days ago, around ten in the morning. So about 56 hours."

Mr. Loks nodded, "Sleep first. Then we work on getting your sister free. I promise." He sighed, "Hell, if I knew this case was going to be so rough, I would have doubled my fee."

Buttercup was calming down, still frustrated she couldn't do anything to get Blossom out of there, but seeing that this was a better plan. "Well, once this is over, if you ever need someone to fight monsters, me and my sisters will happily help, no charge at all." The lawyer chuckled, but leaned back in his chair, riding shotgun. As he tried to manage a power nap in the car, Buttercup stared out the window and tried to figure out how she played into this. What would Blossom do, if she were here?


	13. Ch 13: The Last Hours

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 13:

**The Last Hours**

In spite of Mr. Loks's words, he did not go to sleep once they got to Citysville. His assistants had been setting up another press release, and he told Bubbles she would have to step up again to the podium, even in her sleep deprived state. Bubbles took several minutes to wake up and when Mr. Loks told her the next task, she nodded wearily and began wake herself up. She crawled out of the professor's arms and into the seat adjacent, psyching herself up.

She was worried about Blossom, but if any of the sisters could handle that kind of confinement, then it was Blossom. She rubbed her eyes, and listened as Mr. Loks told her what she needed to cover. She had no trouble looking at him, as she was getting better at finding things by sound, but still, she didn't see much other than the blurry splotch of his face, and his black hair. She made sure to internalize everything he said, trying to memorize it, and think about a proper speech to have.

They reached the back of a hotel and unloaded. Apparently, because the trial was going to be in Citysville, they were going to spend the next week here. They would also be staying closer to Blossom. They entered through the service entrance of the hotel, at the back, because the front was crowded with the media journalists and press.

With each step, Bubbles forced herself to cheer up a little, she had to. She needed to be strong. The better she did here, the better chances they had to save Blossom. It was no longer an abstract idea, but a concrete goal she needed to accomplish.

The service door forced them to go through the kitchen first, apparently with the permission of the hotel managers. As they passed through the kitchen, Bubbles could tell they were making sweets. She paused, and cautiously made her way to the wall of ovens, where there were chefs and assistants working on dinner for their guests. She approached one assistant, a woman, Bubbles thought, just pulling a sheet of cookies out of the oven. This was a test for her. Bubbles smiled brightly at the figure, still facing the other direction, and asked, "May I have a cookie?"

She thought she sounded as cheerful as ever, but she could only hope her eyes were not red from crying. The woman turned to look down and see her. She said, sounding jolly, "Sure thing, child. Let me get you one of the cooler ones, with icing." She moved to the cooling rack where completed cookies were being placed. She pulled one off and handed it to Bubbles. It took her a moment to grab the cookie as it was hard to see and she got blue icing all over her thumb. She curtsied (They had changed into some appropriate clothing in the car) and bowed her head, saying, "Thank you ma'am!" before making her way back to join Mr. Loks, his assistant, and her family.

They had paused to watch her walk away from the group, and saw as she very carefully made her way back, trying not to careen into any cabinets or people. She took a bite of the cookie, pure bliss, and the group continued. As Bubbles offered a bite of the cookie to Buttercup, she could hear the woman and a man talking behind her.

"Wasn't that one of those girls?"

"Hush now. She is just a kid."

"A creepy super powered kid. What did she want?"

"Just a cookie. She looked dreadfully tired and I couldn't stand telling her no. Now get back to work, before Chef Jean has your backside for not finishing the soufflés."

Bubbles finished the cookie quickly, as Buttercup didn't want any. Bubbles was still getting small flashbacks of her time in the labs. In the end, she just needed time to heal the mental scars. She would cloud and forget the memories of being trapped, taking test after test in that place from her mind with enough time. That was for later. The cookie helped her feel alive again right now. She knew it might just be her imagination but she felt the sugar rush through her. There wasn't any spring in her step, but she would survive.

She was licking the last of the icing off of her thumb as they stepped out of the hotel. Mr. Loks gave a basic introduction, and then it was her turn to step up. They had a smaller podium made for the girls, for these releases, and Bubbles stepped up to it, staring out at the crowd of people. There were more cameras and microphones and people than ever before. She spoke, ready to say what needed to be said.

"Hello everyone! As you all know, my sisters and I were classified as extrahuman threats to humanity and taken from our dad, Professor John Utonium, just two days ago, around 9 AM on Wednesday. We were taken to a GREM detention facility at some undisclosed location, and we were subject to tests. Nothing performed on us was cruel or unusual, though some of the tests were arduous. Also, more food would have been nice, though." She wasn't starving, per se, but she was hungry. Bubbles liked to eat, and being given one meal of mush was not enough to sate her hunger. Still, she was told not to dwell on the tests, but move on as soon as possible by Mr. Loks.

"As you might notice… there is only Buttercup and me here. You were probably informed by GREM authorities that Blossom was not being released. She has been classified as a class six sentient extrahuman… as one of the most dangerous monsters in the world. The same classification as LAHnet, the rogue sentience that strove to drive the world economy into ruins three years ago. The same classification as Perro Diablo, the massive fire dog that nearly destroyed all of Madrid in the summer of 2005. The same classification as… as… Him, the shape shifting psychic to whom an innumerable number of atrocities has been linked to." She paused to swallow, and continued, a little strained, "My sister is being considered a monster exactly like these three. These three have over a thousand lives to their death toll. They have ruined thousands more! It is absolutely wrong for her to be considered the same! My sister, alongside me and Buttercup, has fought Him personally. She has no death tally. She has never hurt anyone who didn't commit crime, or tried to destroy a city or-… My sister is good! She is nice! She does not deserve this treatment! And we will do everything in our power to save her! She is human, and has made mistakes, but- but she has led us, Buttercup and me, to fight monsters in Townsville again and again. She kept us from fighting ourselves and has saved our lives, and the lives of so many others. She is no monster, and deserves to be free and here with us. We will make sure she is free of this false classification before this trial is over. We believe that with all our hearts."

Bubbles felt her eyes glaze over with tears, passionate about her words, but she didn't want to let them flow. As she looked out across the blurry sea of people, she wondered if anything she said would come across. She took a few breaths to calm herself, and glanced at Mr. Loks's figure. "I, uh, think that is all, right?"

Mr. Loks leaned down and whispered a reminder into her ear, and she nodded, "Oh yeah." She looked back to the crowd, and said, in a flat voice. "Um, we are not responsible for any merchandise, media or other products made with our name. We are not making any money off our moniker "The Powerpuff Girls". I think someone is trying to trademark the name even, but we are just trying to free our dad and ourselves from persecution. That's all. Also, we are not going to take any endorsements or anything, so please stop asking us to sponsor your sports drink or clothes or anything, okay?" It was so stupid. This was all wasted time to her. She wanted to sleep, then get on with the real work. People seriously were looking to get endorsements from them?

She looked again at Mr. Loks, who nodded, and she stepped away from the podium to stand next to her daddy, on the opposite side of Buttercup. Mr. Loks made a few finishing statements, and they walked back into the hotel.

* * *

Buttercup watched her sister brazenly go for the cookie and smiled. She knew Bubbles would be alright if she could think about something sweet to eat. Once she finished with the press conference, both Mr. Loks and Bubbles went to their respective beds and feel asleep instantly. While they slept, Buttercup told dad and the assistant what happened while they were underground.

Once that was over, the Professor gave her a hug, and apologized, as if it was his fault. She didn't see why he would think that. She went to bed then, next to Bubbles, feeling strange knowing that they were missing a sister.

The week progressed rather slowly, Buttercup felt. Of course, she didn't do nearly as many interviews as Bubbles did. Buttercup was feeling useless, and finally, she went to see the lawyer, on Sunday.

She went into his office, around eleven, where he was tapping away at his computer, frowning. He hadn't even noticed her knock at his open door. She cleared her throat, and said, "Hey, Mr. Loks? Can- can we talk?"

He jumped, blinking quickly and looking up at her, as if amazed to see her at his door. "Oh! Buttercup, damn." He shook his head, still tired from the marathon the last two days. "Sure, come right on in. You just surprised me. Just let me finish a few more lines." Something in the shock of her arrival made him forget his usual decorum, but he regained it easily enough. But she didn't remark on it, just moving to take up a seat in the only empty spot in the room, a chair set next to his desk, probably for his assistants.

She glanced around the room, strewn with paper and boxes of books and folders and three ring binders and more. She would hate to have to organize all of this. After a few minutes, the lawyer finished up whatever he was typing and closed his laptop. He turned to Buttercup and, with his sharp wide grin, asked, "Well, what can I do for you?"

Buttercup took a breath and went ahead and spit it out, "Listen, I am sorry about my outburst in the van, and I feel like I am not doing so much. Is there anything I can do to help our case? Like, I can do more interviews, but Bubbles definitely the best at them. But is there something I can do?"

He looked at her and thought about her question. He took a moment and nodded at nothing in particular, "Well, you are a writer, correct? I believe I had one of my assistant's look through your work. She said it was fairly good, not amazing, but well written. Some of it is a little racy for a five year old which the prosecution is sure to bring up… What was your usual online name again?"

Buttercup scoffed, "Oh, BitterBeeNumbah3 for most websites. Something I thought was clever in my youth."

He laughed, "Hah. You are a little young to act as if your youth was long ago. But why BitterBeeNumbah3?"

Buttercup shrugged, "At the time I made it, I had been more, ah, emo than most, and had always felt like I was the angry and whiny sister. I have always thought my name was ill-fitting anyway. I am the weirdo of the group. I am supposed to be the "Spice" in "Sugar, Spice and everything Nice," but I don't have much of a spice name."

Mr. Loks raised his eyebrows and smoothed back his hair, which was not in its usual ponytail, hanging limply, just past his ears. He then smiled, and said, "So, would the name Basil have fit you better?"

Buttercup was confused for a moment, but quickly enough nodded, unsure and tried to smile encouragingly. She didn't get what he was getting at, but Basil was a spice… so she said, "Yeah, something like that would work," and tried to look sincere. Rarely did the lawyer offer opinions, rather than advice or demands, so she thought it would be nice to be agreeable.

Apparently he caught on very quick to her intentions quickly, and spoke, with his usual wide grin, "Don't humor me just to get on my good side. We lawyers take classes on lying. I am not as crazy as I sound. My father was cook, and he loved learning about spices. Basil is usually considered the "kingly" herb, but one herbalist in the 17th century falsely attributed the name to that of the basilisk, a monster that could kill with a glance. From the way you were glaring daggers at me when I told you not to rescue your sister… well, let's just say I am glad didn't kill me with just a gaze."

He scratched just above his ear, still smiling, but seeming a little embarrassed, "Anyway, just a silly joke. So, if you write stories… would you like to write an article, revealing to the world what your online name is? Telling everyone what you write, and saying "This is who I am, take it or leave it!"? It would be better than letting it come out in court, without preparation, which means it will help us."

Buttercup pondered his words, both about basil and the article idea. "Well, yeah, I can do that. How should I write it though?"

He shook his head and waved dismissively, "Write it however you want. Each of you girls has your own air of charisma about you. Even Blossom, when she isn't saying something about philosophy." Buttercup winced, still remembering last Sunday's interview. The lawyer continued, "So you write it however you want."

Buttercup nodded, "Okay… you will approve it first, right? I don't want to cause any more trouble for the Professor. I want to make sure I don't make it harder for him to be acquitted." "Acquitted" isn't in her usual vocabulary, but Buttercup has picked things up from hanging around lawyers for nearly two weeks now.

Loks smiled, amused, "He said something similar to me. He requested I do everything in my power to make sure you girls are not locked up or killed, regardless of what happened to him. But I promise to make sure your article is best for everyone, and even try to find a good news source to submit it to. Go ahead and borrow one of the spare laptops in the next room."

Buttercup thanked him, and headed out. She was thinking about what the lawyer, Mr. Loks, said about her dad. _The Professor is more concerned about saving us than himself?_ She knew what happened to the scientists who were charged guilty. Life in prison was the least of his worries.

She let the thought simmer in her mind for a while, but focused first on her article. She was about to tell the world who she was. What she does in her spare time would become public. She thought about all the stories she had written, and how anyone, maybe everyone, will be looking at her work with a critical eye. Could she really give up the anonymity of the internet, her freedom of expression without persecution?

Buttercup began writing, and wrote well into the night. She finished around one in the morning. Proofread it, and proofread it again. She emailed it to Mr. Loks for final approval, and went to bed.

It wasn't published on Monday. She didn't bother Mr. Loks about it. She didn't want to face him if it wasn't good enough for publication. It would have been too shameful for her. Tuesday, there was New York Times resting on the chair near her side of the bed. The front page article was hers.

* * *

It was seven days, twelve hours, fifty two minutes and seven seconds when they told her to return to the sleeping chamber for the eighth time. They had apparently discovered that she was mapping the entire structure in her head. So she no longer had a guide to lead her around the complex.

There were occasions where they had people in the rooms waiting for her. For a few days they attached electrodes suction cups to her head, to read what electrical impulses passed through her mind as she wrote essays, or solved puzzles, or read stories. They also gave her x-ray exams, and an MRI, and several other tests she hadn't seen or heard of before.

For the most part, her tests were quiet, and allowed for a lot of introspection. She made plans and memorized them. She even revisited memories, her favorite ones, just sifting through them and remembering herself enjoying simpler life before she was a year old.

Maybe this was why, when she fell asleep, she dreamed. Rarely did she ever dream, but this night she did. She dreamed of one of her earliest memories, just a day after they had first been born in a flash of light. That second night of living, as the Professor tucked them in.

"Professor?" Blossom asked, sleeping between her two sisters, "What are we?"

He looked at them, with that same face of amazement and wonder and awe he had, for those first months of their life, as if he didn't understand how they could be. "Well, I will tell you." He leans over and sits on the bed close to them.

He smiles at them, saying, "You girls are made of sugar-" he bends down and kisses Bubbles on the forehead, and she giggles. He then leans over to Buttercup, who appears to be trying to bury herself under the covers in time, "-spice-" and he kisses her on her check before she can escape. He turns to Blossom, and finishes with a flourish, "and everything nice!" and gave Blossom a kiss on the nose.

Blossom smiled, but something about his words niggled at her. He finished with a humored smile, "And an entire beaker of Chemical X, as an accident." He paused, and became serious. "What you are, and will always be, are my girls. While you are always going to be my girls, you can always choose to be _who_ever you want to be."

Blossom dreamed, drifting soon off into other unmemorable dream figments. But when she woke, she remembered that dream. That memory. It was Thursday. The trial begins today.


	14. Ch 14: End of the Line

The Utonium Trials

Interlude:

**End of the Line**

Seven Months Previous- The City of Townsville junkyard

"And with this lever I, Mojo Jojo, shall finally put an end to the Powerpuff Girls! Mwaha- Hahaha- Hahahahahaaaa!" The sickly green skinned chimpanzee, clothed in white boots, white gloves, a blue vest, and a violet cape, looked upon his latest creation with joy. It was his greatest work, no doubt. A plethora of scraped plate metal, wires, microchips and cables, it was a piece of art. Well, perhaps a bit of an abstract, industrial, post-apocalyptic piece of art, but art none the less. Mojo Jojo pulled the lever with a sigh.

Mojo Jojo always had a plan and was always ready to implement it. The latest one, first involving escape from the prison holding him, was his piece-de-la-resistance, if he did say so himself. Mojo Jojo had actually done so, more than once, in his mutterings as he conceived all the details and all the variables and contrived all the solutions.

The giant mechanized behemoth, scrapped together from a crane, a myriad of old cars and endless amounts of refuse in the Townsville dump rose with a groaning shriek of metal and twisted plastic. It had taken him three days of lying low, and then another week of work, to finish it. Mojo Jojo sat upon his canopy-covered, makeshift throne, an Easy Boy recliner with some exposed springs. He rested his elbows on the armrest of the chair. His fingers steepled, he watched the fifty foot monstrosity rise to its feet and lumber towards Townsville, parts falling off and wires snapping with every pace.

Mojo Jojo was the smartest thing alive. He could create lasers that competed with DARPA, machines that could calculate the end of Pi, and even use the quantum strings of the universe to turn each human of Townsville into that of a pathetic canine. Mojo Jojo was capable of many things. Self-delusion was not beyond his grasp.

Humans say that the as they grow older, they become more and more set in their ways. Mojo Jojo was not human. No one has cared to ask him his opinion on the matter. Mojo Jojo was certain that his pile of junk would be his final hurrah and a sign of things to come.

There just simple was no one else willing to lose face to those horrible little girls. Him had gone, kind enough to send Mojo Jojo a sarcastic letter on pink stationary, saying Him was going to leave the "fine and honorable job" of defeating the Powerpuff Girls to Mojo Jojo. Fuzzy Lumpkins (who Mojo assumed was some sort of Sasquatch) had migrated north to visit family and never came back. Mojo was loath to admit it, but even that screeching human child, Princess, daughter of the Morbucks legacy, had even left to see her mother in Europe, only to come back to act the model spoiled brat. The Beat-Alls, the only group ever to have consistently beat the Powerpuff Girls (and show this town a little terror) had dispersed. Leaving Mojo Jojo all alone.

Mojo Jojo would admit it was his fault they had separated in the first place. He had been tempted by the basest of emotions. He would have liked to admit it was love… but only a human would be that self-deluded, he could not. Maybe that was what kept him from dropping into a long depression when she left him.

"Mojo Jojo, I, am no ordinary simian! There is no primate, human or otherwise, who could ever rise to my level! I am alpha and omega. Given time and tools, I, Mojo Jojo could unravel the inner workings of the universe! The entire planet would be mine! I could rule this world for the rest of-" Mojo Jojo stopped. He was pontificating again, standing on top of the ruined recliner preaching to the trash that surrounded him. He, a mind with no peer, couldn't even remember climbing the chair.

With some dignity left, he climbed down the chair, and decided to make some rounds around the junkyard he now called home, checking his traps and machines and plans for the tenth time.

His laboratory, once at the apex of the small active volcano at Townsville center, had been leveled by a volcano monster two months ago while he was in jail. Once the monster was beaten, the volcano had just become a hill, completely dormant. "Such a waste, as I could use that energy to fuel my many machines and plans, and rule the world over! With such energy, I, Mojo Jojo, should be, and would be king. Nothing could stop me, no person, nor object nor-" He closed his mouth. He was shouting again when he meant to simply muse.

His muse and savior, his punishment and restraint. Chemical X. The very same compound that gave him his massive intelligence had also created the Powerpuff Girls… as well as his exile from all that he knew.

"But it is I who shall have the last laugh, the final word, the great catharsis! I who shall win and all those that faced me shall … rue the … day." It was getting worse. Mojo Jojo didn't know what was worse: suddenly gaining intelligence far above everyone who ever existed and recognizing how stupid he had been before as a simple chimp, or recognizing that slowly that magnificent brain was becoming more and more feeble.

The alarm went off suddenly, telling him that his giant mechanized machine was down for the count. He checked the time. Only twenty minutes. Those girls had gotten good at fighting. "But it is I, Mojo Jojo, who has gotten even better! For this time, it is not they who have the advantage, but I who have the advantage! Yes, my fervor is unmatched! I will show them, once and for all, who is the superior being! Mojo Jojo!"

He eagerly set to work, running to and fro, activating the last of his plans, before finally taking a seat back in the recliner, a complex digital tv remote in hand, as he turned on the T.V. screen he had rigged, to watch the news. It would lull the girls into a false sense of security, to see him acting as arrogant and high minded as he always did. When the pretenses dropped… he would show them all! The alternative was not an option.

The golem he had created caused a mighty bit of confusion and destruction. He expected little else. The city was rarely prepared to fight monsters that come from further inland, rather the sea. The Girls were already gone from the scene, already tracking him here. The news was already guessing the giant robot had been built by the most intelligent of primates, Mojo Jojo, after his most recent escape. They turned to speculating that it was because the Rowdyruff Boys had been captured recently that inspired his last breakout.

That was such a stupid, such a human assumption. Mojo would never waste his energies escaping for such a simple reason. Having spent weeks causing havoc on the East Coast, the Rowdyruff Boys were caught. They were Mojo Jojo's own twisted creations, made to be the polar opposite of the Powerpuff girls. The entire eastern division of superheroes had to team up to do it. No matter how much power the Boys had, they were not unstoppable. They were the closest thing Mojo had to a family until… Mojo turned off the T.V. He was tired of listening to them jabber on. He wouldn't have such petty reasons to break out of jail. "I think on a much higher level than that. I, Mo-" He stopped, the perimeter alarm sounding.

He heard the twang and snap of one of his traps discharging, and a distant surprised voice. Another twang and snap, and his net traps triggered again. A shout rang out, the cool and calm Blossom, "Slow down and watch for traps. He could be anywhere. Don't get pinned by one of the nets."

More noises. His spring-loaded cage trap failed. So did the exploding barrel filled with battery acid. They came closer, Buttercup shouting, "Ha, he is off his game today. I could see these traps from a mile away."

Mojo sat on his ruined throne, under the small canopy he made from rebar and a tattered tarp. He could feel the urge to speak bubbling out of him, uncontrolled. All he could do was keep it to a whisper. "What they, the Powerpuff Girls don't know, is that these faulty traps are a disguise, an illusion, merely a way to lull them into false bravado, a fake confidence which I, Mojo Jojo, shall use against them!"

His whispered words did have an effect, as he heard the sweet voiced Bubbles cry out, "Over there. I hear him!" He ceased his babble, but could not stop them from finding him. Three wooshes and three blurs of light appeared. The pink, blue, and green of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, respectively, appeared before him. They stood just outside of the shadowed canopy of his little hutch.

He remained sitting on his throne, as Blossom spoke. "End of the line for you, Mojo! Did you really think that you could build that monstrosity and get away with it?"

Buttercup chimed in, "Yeah, we followed the hunk of junk's trail of scraps right back here."

Bubbles finished, shaking her head, "You should stop trying to be such a bad monkey."

Mojo Jojo stared at them all with angry and disdainful eyes. "Ah, the Powerpuff Girls. How nice of you to drop in. How do you like my new abode? I designed it myself. With abstract apocalyptic art, an earthen detritus covered floor, and… power seating!"

He clicked a button on the remote at his side. Nothing happened. He pressed it again, feeling the growing dread. Did he forget to plug it in? Or were the motors malfunctioning. His expression turned to anger and fear, as he pressed another button. Something exploded in the distance, and he turned his gaze to the girls.

Blossom was alert and wary of a trap. Buttercup was smirking with amusement. Bubbles gave him a gaze of pure sympathy that made him frothing angry. "You think this is the end of my fight. No. It has just begun. I, Mojo Jojo will get the last laugh, finally!" He stood and flipped up behind his recliner throne, throwing a toggle that would, should put the girls out of his life forever.

There was a rumbling crash just on the other side of the recliner. He peeked around the chair. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup levitated above a pit. Buttercup laughed, "What, did you forget we could fly?"

Mojo Jojo stepped out from behind the chair, facing them resigned to his fate. He looked at them. He looked at himself. He was in rags, made from trash bags, discarded shoes and holey dishwashing gloves. He was not in his usual outfit at all. On his head sat an old office waste bin, not his usual white dome, used to protect his massive and exposed brain. He realized, not for the first time, that he had been hallucinating. His dementia was growing worse. This had all been a delusion. He never had a chance before he even started his plans.

He shuddered, looking back at the girls, for what he hoped to be the last time. "Yes, I had forgotten. I… I have forgotten many things. Not enough to save me though, girls. Not enough to save me from doing this. One day you will meet your match. But not in me. Say good bye to me, my sisters." He pulled out a gun from the folds in the layers of trash bags on his body. It was not a ray gun. Just a 9mm pistol he had stolen from the offices of the junkyard. It was loaded, and the safety was off. He lifted it.

Something half-freight-train, half-burst-of-light hit him. He was blasted backwards. Ten feet, fifteen feet, and bounced once, then twice. He landed, looking into a shattered mirror on the side of a junk heap. Even in the fractured images, he could see the sickly green skin of his, the black fur on his body slowly gaining more and more silver streaks, the red bloodshot eyes.

In the distance, he could hear Bubbles shout, "Hey, why did you hit him so hard!"

Buttercup crossly spoke, "He had a gun! I hate getting shot. It hurts."

Blossom said, "Come on. Let's take him back to Townsville Prison. I heard he is getting a new psychologist. Maybe he can help."

Mojo Jojo was lifted, and as he was lifted, he laughed. He remembered why he left the prison. His old psychologist had been let go. But before his shrink had left, she let slip a big secret. There was no help for him back there. This new shrink was just going be questioning the super-simian about his boys, the Powerpuff Girls, and Chemical X. There would be not absolution there. Just simple interrogation. Why had they stopped him from saving himself from that fate?

Buttercup scoffed, "It's not like the gun would have hurt us. What was he trying to do? He's losing it, for sure." Mojo Jojo laughed until tears came out his bloodshot eyes.


	15. Ch 15: Crowded Conversations

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 15:

**Crowded Conversation**

The sun would rise in but a few more minutes. Buttercup and Bubbles picked at their breakfast, while Professor Utonium put on the tailored suit. He needed to look as presentable as possible the trial tomorrow. Bubbles and Buttercup were also wearing some conservative looking dresses, black and white, though they had the same Mary Janes and socks on as usual. Buttercup had advised Bubbles to wear her usual blue dress under the more concealing plain dress. Buttercup did the same. There was no telling how things might go, and clothing that wouldn't be destroyed in an attack would be vital.

Buttercup felt strange thinking about strategy. It wasn't her forte. She could beat anything she wanted to a pulp with a few blasts of energy and a punch for good measure. Without Blossom here, she had to fill in that gap.

The ride down to the federal courthouse was strange. The Utonium family was taken to an armored limo, and escorted deeper into Citysville with GREM escort. The escort involved two ATVs, armored transport vehicles, each with a gunner on the back wielding a seriously heavy machine gun. Buttercup, Bubbles and dad looked out the windows, as Mr. Loks looked like he was meditating over a coffee mug and a portfolio.

At first, on this cool Thursday morning, things seemed business as usual. People were driving to work, or walking to and from subway stations. They were hurried and leisurely, content or angry, young and old. Then things began to change.

The crowds became denser, and the traffic became thinner. Suddenly, the limo was before an intersection. The way ahead was barricaded, which was maintained by the police. Further down the street, Buttercup could see the courthouse. The left and right turns of the intersection were also barricaded. Behind these barricades was a massive crowd of people. Protesters, all of them, some holding signs, others shouting. From her spot in the car, Buttercup could read some of the signs.

"KILL ALL MONSTERS," "Kill Other Superheroes Next?" "free the girls" "Hold Scientists Accountable!", "Always Remember Old Tokyo!", and even a "can haz cheezeburger?" Buttercup couldn't believe that people were wasting time trolling at a time like this. Her dad's life was on the line! So was hers, for that matter. The internet age has made humanity more bizarre.

The crowd rose to a roar as the limo paused before the barricades. Buttcup has never seen such a crowd. She had seen the news, and read some articles… but she hadn't realized how… polarized people were. This was bigger than the time that the Copper Clank, a vigilante superhero, was arrested for stealing some of the money from the same criminals he helped lock up. These people had to be shutting down at least a whole block of downtown, maybe more. The limo finally completed whatever clearances it needed. They slowly rolled forwards, towards the grand and tall front of Citysville Federal Courthouse.

Once the limo paused before the wide, stone slab stairway at the entrance, Buttercup began to open the door, before Mr. Loks told her to stop. Federal agent looking men came up to the car and opened the door. When the door opened, there was surprising din of noise from the crowd, either from shouting to chanting. Buttercup focused for a moment, and she could even hear some group singing the unofficial Powerpuff Girl theme song, made by some girl who had watched their fights online.

The song made Buttercup shake her head and smile, as she hopped out of the car. Once the crowd saw her, it went nuts. It was just an incomprehensible roar as each person shouted and screamed and swore. Buttercup was taken aback, but quickly ignored it, looking to Bubbles, who was still inside the car, looking frozen.

Buttercup rolled her eyes, and said, "Coming, Bubbles?"

Bubbles looked back at her, through the thin rimmed glasses made for her, "I-I am scared, Buttercup… We… this is it… If we step into that courtroom… it's a fight we can't win with our super powers." Buttercup's super hearing was the only thing that allowed her to hear Bubbles through the screaming of the crowds.

Buttercup nodded, feeling dour for a moment. "If Blossom were here, she could say something to help. But you just have me. If I was younger, I would just tell you to stop being a baby, but I agree." Buttercup shrugged, "This is the best thing I can come up with… If we don't step into the courtroom, we will lose by default."

Bubbles gave her a grimace, "That's not very reassuring, Buttercup."

Buttercup tried to give her a half smile, "Hey, if it makes you feel any better, if things get bad, I will sock the prosecution right in the nose."

Bubbles laughed, "Oh good. We can win the battle after losing the war."

Buttercup agreed, "Exactly. So come on. I can't go into that court without "the joy and the laughter" with me."

Bubbles giggled, and began humming the tune of that ridiculous "theme song", as she hopped out of the car. The Professor and Mr. Loks had already gotten out on the other side. The four of them looked up at the stone-clad and imposing federal building. The four of them all walked up the stairs and inside, escorted by half a dozen GREM soldiers.

Past the stone columns and into the building she could see that there was little deviation from the usual look all courthouses seemed to have. Buttercup wondered if it had to do with TV shows imitating life, or the other way around.

She looked around the crowded halls of the courthouse. The halls were lined with pretty white marble floors, speckled with black and silver spots. The walls were a rich deep red wood paneling for about four feet up, until reaching a nice plaster look above there. There were doorways off to the side, probably offices, but as they delved deeper into the building, they found hallways, branching off, and along them, dispersed regularly but far apart from each other were double doors. Courtrooms, she was certain.

The halls were filled with other people who were technically part of the other court cases going on today. The Utonium party passed the largest of the building's grand courtrooms, the one that dad was being tried in. Several people were already entering, with fine suits and briefcases.

Bubbles whispered quietly to Buttercup as they passed it, "Hey, do those two seem familiar?"

Buttercup looked at the group heading into the courtroom more closely. One of the lawyers looked at her. She remembered the face. It was the grinning face of the man.

It was the man who stood in the Citysville Police Station. The man who looked a little more filled out, and his green eyes were now behind gold wire rim glasses. Next to him at the police station had been the scowling hawk-eyed woman. Here now, she stood behind him, looking exactly as before. She followed his gaze back towards Buttercup and her family. The old woman looked away from Buttercup, with no change in her emotion. She motioned to her grinning partner to go forward. He did after a moment, heading into the courtroom without comment.

Buttercup looked up at Mr. Loks, "Who were those two? We saw them in the police station here the day we met you."

Mr. Loks had on a small fake smile to hide his discomfort, "I told you about them last week. They are the lead prosecutors. Mrs. Valenti, a relatively new lawyer to this area, but a long time lawyer in government work, and Mr. Davids, who was at the first drafting of Neo-Tokyo protocol… and my former mentor until I found he had given up on his ethics to win cases by any means necessary."

Buttercup winced, as she remembered. "Sorry. Seems we all are fighting our demons here."

Mr. Loks nodded. "Yes, well. We have another thirty minutes. Let's go to our private room to do some final discussion. Going into the courtroom first won't earn us any points if no one else is there but the prosecution."

The group headed to the private room given to the defense to use during court breaks. Of course, usually the defendants are not under military guard. The six soldiers escorted the Utonium family and Mr. Loks to their last moment of peace before the trial began.

* * *

The small room dominated by a large conference table and chairs was already filled with the boxes that Bubbles and Buttercup had gotten used to living with at hotels. The room was the defendant's preparation room. Filled with files and books all covering law. Already in the room, organizing the chaos was Jamie and Sean, Mr. Loks' assistants. Bubbles made sure to wave to them cheerfully, nearly knocking off her glasses.

Grinning at her own foolishness, she adjusted the spectacles, still getting used to them even after a week of use. She took a seat next to Buttercup and the Professor, across from Mr. Loks. He pulled out that same small little device he did every time that he wanted a private conversation. Right as the shrill humming began to come from it, she asked, "What is that thing? It sounds awful."

Whatever Mr. Loks was about to say was cut off and he looked surprised. "You can hear it?"

Bubbles nodded. Buttercup, sounding reticent, "I can't hear anything."

Mr. Loks shook his head, "It shouldn't be audible by anyone. It is used to disrupt electronic recording. Gives us privacy. Anymore, you can never be sure where you are safe to talk."

Bubbles nodded, frowning, "Well, it always sounds awful. It puts my teeth on edge."

Mr. Loks nodded, "Good to know. I will keep this short then." He took a breath, "We are here. Everything we have been working towards these last three days is before us. I think we can win. I wouldn't be here if I didn't. Remain calm, and remember, they are going to do everything in their power to unnerve you. Not just you two girls." He looked at each of them, then to daddy. "But you as well. They are going to talk about the worst parts of your life and twist any dagger that they can. Everything you have heard up till now in the news has been nothing. The real fight is in that courtroom. You have to remain stalwart in the face of absolute opposition. We have only each other to rely on. The US law system relies upon the standard "innocent until proven guilty." That is not true for the Neo-Tokyo Protocol laws. We must convince them of that innocence. That's what I am here to do. Now, give me a few pre-trial moments of panic, while I rush to get my opening statement together and my notes in order. Don't worry if I look panicked, its just my usual routine. Jamie and Sean can confirm that."

The two assistants looked up and nodded, putting on a confident face for the Utonium family and trying to look amused. Bubbles appreciated the effort they gave. Bubbles took daddy's hand with her right, and Buttercup's with her left. They had each other. Bubbles just prayed Blossom was doing okay.


	16. Ch 16: Trying Authority

Author's Notes for this chapter can be found on my profile and will go down when I post the next chapter.

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 16

Trying Authority

Blossom was watching the courtroom on four separate televisions, each displaying a different news station, all national news. Each was playing at the same time, but she had no issue paying attention to each of them individually, or all of them at once, though looking down at them was a bit of a strain at times. They were trying to placate her. As if she was going to cause them any trouble. Not with how they were holding her.

Blossom was in a steel suit and suspended from a metal frame, flat on her back. The steel suit, lined with some sort of extremely strong and viscous material, held her body from the neck down. She couldn't move if she tried, and she could barely turn her neck, as the metal suit ended just short of her chin. She could bring none of her super-strength to bear, her arms raised above her head and her legs splayed beneath her. It was a thoroughly uncomfortable position, and Blossom suspected that her entire body was suffering from poor circulation. She didn't think about the painful pins and needles she would be bearing once she got free of the contraption.

Of course, there was more to the device than a simple metallic body suit. Her head could not turn more than a few inches to each side. This was so that here eye sockets were always pointed at the curved mirror above her, meant to redirect any laser vision she used back at her. Her mouth was covered by a heavy mask, as if to filter out heavy contaminants, but she suspected it had more to do with countering her attempts at breathing ice into the room, one of her special powers. The only part of her that was unrestrained was her hair, which was lying flat on the table that sat beneath her and her suit. They even had a collar at her neck, right where the suit ends, which held a multitude of needles at her neck. What was in them, she could only guess. He had told her that they were there in case she struggled.

"He," in this case, was General Grimaldi. He was her only visitor in these last two days before the trial. They spoke to each other on a regular basis, though he never gave anything away about himself or how the trial was going. Blossom thought it was better this way. She would rather have the company than information, after that first week of being spoken to through the intercom. Blossom had discovered, in those few days, that there were far worse things than being trapped as a five year old, growing mentally while her body remained unchanged. She had thought she was alone out there, but wandering those cold hallways to the next test reminded her of her sisters, her books. She even thought a little fondly of the Professor, though she wasn't sure she forgave him yet for treating her like a child.

"Only a few minutes left. How are you feeling?" Blossom turned her neck just a little, looking towards her left. Grimaldi sat there in his chair, watching the TV screens suspended from the ceiling, hanging so that Blossom could see them, just barely. His chair was a flimsy plastic lawn chair, presumably so that he could take it with him when he left.

She spoke back in an equally measured tone, "I am well. I am relieved to observe that the proceedings will begin, rather than hearing the constant pontification of various news pundits. What are you feeling?"

The general who had singled her out from the beginning raised an eyebrow, but continued to watch the TV screen. "I feel old." He was perhaps sixty years old, and wore every year and more like a shroud. He was still physically fit. Blossom couldn't relate. She was never old. "But mostly mild interest as far as the case goes." He smiled at some private though, "And I am just as tired of political chatter myself."

Blossom felt like goading him a little, though she suspected she knew what his response would be. "I do not think you are too old. The actuary tables give you at least another twenty five years."

Grimaldi laughed. Something she had never heard from him, it was a dry sad thing, barely above a whisper. "Blossom. I won't live another five. Monster fighting is not fun and games. You girls might not have realized it yet. How many strange chemicals, genetic experiments and killing machines have you faced? How many people have you seen die running from them? Do you-"

"Four hundred, seventy-two." Blossom hated it when people asked her questions in series. Especially when she knew the answers. More than anything else, she just wanted him to stop.

"What?"

"Four hundred, seventy-two people. Since I started counting. I saw that many die. I was too slow to save them. Do you want to know how many I found dead? I learned their names too. I wanted to know who I couldn't save. Can we stop measuring personal pain and loss like it is some game? Even I am not that heartless. Regardless of what I said to that interviewer."

Grimaldi paused. He took a breath. " It is considered poor manners for a war veteran to compare death tolls." He wasn't quite finished. "If you didn't mean what you said in that interveiw, why did you tell them you thought humans were monsters?"

Blossom blinked as she stared at the television, where her only family was now on screen. "What I said was this: In a world of monsters, I have decided to side with the monsters that build cities, rather than destroy them." She sighed, "Pick your analogy or historical figure. Human kind is capable of great evil, but it is the only sentient life not always trying to kill me on sight. I guess that isn't true anymore though, is it?"

Grimaldi said nothing.

* * *

Buttercup walked quietly down the center of the courtroom as Bubbles pushed her glasses up again. The green eyed sister was trying to forget how close to breaking down Mr. Loks had been, tearing at his hair and hyperventilating, as he muttered through his opening statements, just fifteen minutes ago. When he was told it was time to go to the courtroom, he slowed his breathing, smoothed out his hair and mentally steeled himself for the coming storm. Buttercup had been a little worried, but he was nothing but the calm and overconfident man he had been for the last few weeks. Buttercup followed the lawyer and the dad towards the defense stand, located at the left front of the room, while staring at all the people in the room.

She was certain that if this room had seams, they would be bursting. There was recording devices from every news outlet in the world it seemed, government officials and journalists. Adding to that all the GREM soldiers lining the walls and surrounding the exits, the tribunal of judges stand and the defense and prosecution teams, she wondered if they were violating some sort of fire code.

They all took their spot at the defense stand, and sat down. The judges had not entered yet, and until they did the trial would not begin. Buttercup, without much else to do, sat quietly and waited for the judges. As she glanced around, just trying to pass the time, she happened to look over at the prosecution. There one of the two lead prosecutors, Mrs. Valenti, was staring down her nose at them, specifically in Buttercup's direction.

Buttercup frowned. She turned to Bubbles, who was staring at the front of the room, and caught her attention. "Hey, Bubbles, that Valenti is staring at-" "Shhh!"

Bubbles had cut her off as she pointed at the door that the judges would come in from. Nothing happened at first. As Buttercup was about to become indignant, the doors opened, and a bailiff announced, "All rise!"

The tribunal of judges entered the room. One of them was an American judge; the others were French and South African, respectively. Mr. Loks had said that of the three, the US native was least likely to side with them, and they needed all three to rule in favor of the Professor for the case to be won. It didn't seem likely. Buttercup sat as everyone did, hearing the call, "All be seated."

The bailiff started to read from his statement, "International law demands that, under the Neo Tokyo Protocol, all scientists practicing forbidden experiments are to be tried under the strictest tenets of the law. John Utonium is under trial today, accused of violating three different statutes of the Protocol on nine separate occasions. The statutes under question are as follows: Article Five states that…"

The bailiff continued the statement of facts, as Buttercup's mind and eyes drifted off. She had heard a lot of this before from Mr. Loks, and there were more interesting things to think about than something she has heard already from their lawyer.

* * *

Bubbles diligently listened to the proceedings as bailiff continued to talk. She had taken off her glasses, as they had begun to hurt a little. Daddy had remembered the prescription mostly right, but wearing them too long still caused a headache for Bubbles.

She listened to the room, the constant breathing from all the people, the lull of beating hearts, the crackle of paper and much more. Most of it she filtered out and focused on the proceedings.

Soon, it came time for the opening statements. The prosecution was up first. The grinning lawyer, Mr. Davids, stood up to stand before the judges. For the first time, she heard him speak aloud.

"Humanity survives on one principle. Those that break the laws of society are punished. Rapists are punished for their acts. Kidnappers are punished for their actions. Murderers are punished for killing people. Ten years ago, society demanded that there be a new standard to hold its members. Scientists and engineers killed more people in Old Tokyo than had ever been killed at once since World War 2. These scientists created monsters, machines and mayhem. Without any leash to reign them in, the shining jewel of Japan became a rusting pile of rubble and a breeding ground for monsters the world will see for generations."

As he spoke, Mr. Davids would spend much of his time staring at the judges, but had once spun around to face everyone in the room, eyeing the defense carefully as he did so. "John Utonium is a blight upon this world. He is exactly the kind of scientist the Neo-Tokyo Protocol was created for. An unwitting destroyer, without regard for life or civilization. His monsters have killed over a hundred people. His monsters have destroyed buildings, leveled national monuments and caused an entire city to lose their very humanity."

He faced the judges, but pointed back at the defense, specifically Buttercup and Bubbles herself, "Even the most docile of his creations are responsible for unspeakable calamity. Before their arrival and subsequent inclusion in society, the attacks on Townsville have increased by ten times what they had been before. They have attacks every three days, when before they happened only once a month. The Global Regiment for Extrahuman Management is, as we speak, trying to contain yet another threat to the city."

There was a ripple through the crowd, and Bubbles heard a muted whisper rise in the air.

"Four of this so called "Professor's" creations are in maximum security, each with a dozen deaths to their names each, or more. One of them was so viciously hard to capture, he ripped off the head of Second Route, a prominent hero of the Eastern League of Supers, before being stopped on his rampage. What stops the monsters still free from reacting the same way? Nothing but a promise made by nonhumans. Anything redeeming in their actions is nullified by the vast powers at their disposal. Even now, they could kill any one of us with a gaze. That-" he looked at the two remaining free Powerpuff girls, "-is the kind of terror and fear and power that the former Doctor, this "Professor" Utonium has unleashed, and is still unleashing upon our fragile world. Humanity can and should do better than this. I am here to make sure that this kind of evil can never be freed by this mad scientist ever again."

The lawyer, nodded to the judges, then returned to his seat calmly, that smirk he always gone, as his focus remained on the trial. There was some silence, then the defense had their own turn to say their piece.

Mr. Loks, who had been hyperventilating just before the start of the trial, seemed calm as he stood at the center, where his mentor only just stood. His eyes on the judges as well, he spoke.

"I would like to start my opening statements by requesting that the tribunal please take a look at two of the three girls under investigation. No, not girls. As of right now, they are classified as class two sentient extrahumans. Look at Bubbles and Buttercup. They are monsters under the law. They were created, supposedly, by an evil and negligent doctor who exceeded the bounds of his license to practice science. These "monsters", along with their absent sister, have, for three years, protected the lives of human beings on a daily basis. These "monsters" risked their lives, again and again, even before they were a year old. Even a single life they have spared from the destruction wrought from the real monsters is should be enough to exonerate them, and Dr. John Utonium.

"If I had the time, I would bring to the stand every single person who had been saved by the monsters that berate Townsville. I could not. Because of maneuvering by the prosecution, the testimony of those who were personally saved from certain death will not be considered. Just to give you an idea, there were three hundred complete stories, even ones with picture and video, sent to me in just the last two weeks. All of them are about how they or a loved one would be dead without the Powerpuff Girls. Apparently none of those lives matter. Dr. Utonium's work was supposed to save lives. Did it fulfill this mission? Yes. Were there unexpected outcomes? Absolutely. But these "unexpected outcomes" did not exceed the bounds of Dr. Utonium's work, the prosecution's assertions aside. Dr. Utonium is a law abiding scientist. He deserves none of the harassment and punishment that is being levied against him. I don't just defend this man, or his work, or even his daughters. I believe in this man. I believe in his daughters. I stand here to defend that belief. I am here to defend an innocent man and his innocent, albeit powerful, children. The defense rests its opening statements."

While Mr. Loks had punctuated his statements by moving, he never once tore his gaze from the three judges, appealing to them and not the audience. The statement, shorter and more emphatic than Mr. Davids, seemed to leave a vacuum in the room when finished. Mr. Loks sat down, and the trial truly began.

* * *

The case proceeded from there. Buttercup had trouble paying as much attention as she should. The problem the viridian-themed Powerpuff Girl was confronted with was that they were talking about the dullest of topics. Paperwork.

Buttercup, before two weeks ago, had no idea how much paperwork was involved with her dad's work. She had avoided it when Mr. Loks was preparing for the trial. Even though *most* of the information was new to her, it bored her to tears.

It seemed to sum down to a back and forth argument of "Mr. Utonium filled out file 54-DST-03", "Yes but he mislead U.S. Governement by leaving subsections 74d and 82d blank," "He did so, but filled out subset form FRS to supplement the original form."

Over the course of the six hours (plus one hour for lunch), they argued, and argued, and argued. Only twice *her* name was mentioned twice. Buttercup wondered what Blossom was thinking. Did she know about the woman? Bubbles didn't think so, when the blue and green twin had talked about it last night.

The Profess-. Dad had done poorly, Buttercup felt, in revealing such important information so late. The Powerpuff Girls had deserved to know about *her*. Blossom especially. Only time would tell. Buttercup didn't think they would get to the issue today. Buttercup suspected they would be arguing about paperwork for days.

"The Defense calls Dr. John Utonium to the stand," Mr. Loks spoke clearly.

Buttercup swallowed. She was wrong. Buttercup looked to her dad, who rose and walked across the floor to the stand. Buttercup looked at the cameras, wondering if Blossom was watching.

* * *

The case thus far scintillated at all of Blossom's senses. She had found some of the paperwork copies that Mr. Loks was using in the case. She watched it all with rapt attention. The General had been in and out of the room occasionally. Blossom ignored him for the most part. It wasn't that she wasn't interested in him. It was that the case was far more vital to her future.

The case was going well, from her perspective, bolted to a table with barely room to look at the screens. The professor had done all his paperwork with a bureaucrat's efficiency. There was not a single hole unplugged. The only odd thing to Blossom was that name that seemed to occur with increasing frequency. It galled at Blossom not to know what it meant.

Mr. Loks then called Professor Utonium to the stand. It was a bold move. Because of the way the case was structured, the Defense technically had the right to lead the interrogation process. It was one of Mr. Loks's signature moves, to bring the doctor under trial before the court at his earliest convenience. It was surprisingly effective.

Professor Utonium stood, dressed in a sharp looking suit, already rumpled slightly in his usual disheveled way, and sat in the witness chair. Mr. Loks took the center of the floor. After the professor was given the oath of honesty by the Bailiff, the defense lawyer faced the professor. Cameras from all major news stations watched both of their faces.

Mr. Loks asked his first question, "John Utonium. Who is Beatrice Behira Bedford?"

That name. Finally Blossom would have an answer. The Professor spoke.

"Beatrice Behira Bedford is… was… my wife."


	17. Ch 17: The Details

Author's notes on this chapter will appear on my profile until the next chapter goes up. As a side note, sorry if this chapter is even more sloppy than usual. Don't hesitate to point out obvious errors or points of confusion. Thanks for reading this far!

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 17

The Details

Blossom had never heard about this. The professor was married? That was a fact she would have never missed. Did he hide it? It more than irked her. Being angry felt nice. Blossom felt her blood pressure rise a little and one of the machines attached to the collar of at her neck began to beep with warning.

Blossom took a breath. Her heart rate slowed before the general could react. She listened to the screen, and learned.

Mr. Loks lead with the questions as the professor spoke.

""Was your wife?""

"She… passed away. She was driving downtown to meet with her- our boss. Complete accident. The injuries were bad, fatal three days later."

"You two worked together?"

The professor grimaced, "Yes… She was technically my superior. She was brilliant. She just seemed to understand our work in biochemistry at an instinctual level."

"Isn't there some sort of conflict of interest, working with your wife?"

"There are no rules against it within the science field or under the Neo-Tokyo Protocol."

"What exactly was the focus of your work?"

"We were a small team dedicated to identifying chemical EX-18G3. We simply called it Chemical X for short."

"What do you mean, identify?"

"Well… The exact details aren't even known by me, but it was my understanding that the chemical had been found in an abandon lab twenty miles within the border of Lithuania. Former Soviet Union country, and hadn't been discovered until about ten years ago. All of the paperwork was destroyed, but several drums of Chemical X were found inside."

"Did you have any luck identifying what Chemical X is?"

"Hm. My wi- Dr. Bedford found that the chemical was a somewhat stable psycho-reactive molecule."

"Psycho-reactive?"

"Yes. It seemed to respond to brainwaves. We had to work with it while it was within a special container I developed, or else it would… change its properties while we did tests."

"How long had it taken you to figure this out?"

"Not long. Eight months or so. Beth seemed to grasp it immediately, where most other researchers simply believed the material was impossible to measure."

"You make it sound like you had little to do with the process. What was your primary job on this assignment?"

The Professor scoffed, "I was the grease monkey and paper pusher. Err...I kept the equipment running and created the geodesic psycho-isolation chamber for the chemical under test. I also made sure we complied with all national and international laws, filing paperwork every year for the Neo-Tokyo Protocol."

"You filled out all the paperwork covered previously today?"

"All of it but the two or three forms that were required by Beth- Dr. Bedford to fill out."

"How do the so called "violations" of the Neo-Tokyo Protocol fit into this?"

"Sugar, spice, and everything nice." The professor laughed self-deprecatingly at this.

"I'm sorry?"

"A saying my wife had. She was the real bio-chemist." Something beeped at the edge of Blossom's hearing. "She always said- She said that life was made up of sugar, spice, and everything nice. Um… "sugar" was glucose, fructose and the like. "Spice" was nutrients and minerals. "Everything nice" was always time, diligence and a little luck. "

Something snapped. It was one of the needle injectors. More beepings.

"So how does this violate the Protocol."

"It doesn't. None of it does. I had been performing the last of our tests, alone. This was after Beth had died. I was finishing our work on a smaller side project that involved the use of some of my machinery. I used a some simple sugars, basic vitamins and my last memento of Dr. Bedford. Some of her hair. It was strictly permitted by the paperwork I filled out. Nothing should have happened but…"

"But what?"

There was shouting and screaming. Blossom knew this story. It wasn't nice. It wasn't nice… She had been lied to! A sucker. Even now she could feel herself whirling into pain and darkness, a swirling maelstrom of emotion. She was supposed to be everything nice! Now, she was just some dead woman's remains. The shouting was human. Her screaming was not. It was nice to scream. Nice to let go of her control. Some dead woman's remains, nostalgia, and some chemical. She was not a person of her own making. It was not nice to hear.

As General Grimaldi shouted at her to stop struggling, the televisions shrank… and shrank…. and shrank… into the abyss, as all of their chemicals started to seep into her system. She could still hear the screaming- her own scream- as she fell unconscious.

* * *

It made Buttercup feel sick to her stomach to hear these details again, twice in the same day. The professor hadn't lied to them… but he had hidden all his life from them. Knowing that she had a mother, seemed to open a void in her, rather than fill one.

Chemical X had reacted to the her dad's thoughts, memories, and love for his wife, for that split second when Jojo escaped and created the accident, exposing Chemical X to the Professor's thoughts. Buttercup wasn't unique and individual just because of random chance. These thoughts flitted through her head in a quick manner. They were no more than echoes of the ones she had last night.

Last night, the Professor had told Buttercup and Bubbles all of this. Both of them had talked it over. Bubbles had been more worried about the dad, who had been bottling up those emotions for so long, or for Blossom, who was more likely to react poorly to the secrets, given her current state. Buttercup wondered how it would affect the case.

She tried to catch Bubbles eye while dad spoke on the podium. Buttercup wanted to give her a comforting smile… or maybe she wanted one from Bubbles. But Bubbles was distracted, staring at the guards along the wall.

* * *

Bubbles hadn't picked up on the crackling at first, but she figured it out quickly under the multitude of sounds across the room. It was coming from the GREM soldiers. They were tilting their heads, listening to their earpieces. Bubbles couldn't quite make it out. She could, however, see the looks those guards gave her.

Something was happening. Slowly, subtly, they were standing more alert, more on guard. Their hands were much closer to the energy weapons at their side. Something was happening. Something bad.

Bubbles's heart sank. Blossom. Bubbles had feared she would take the news badly. Apparently she was. Bubbles stopped looking at the soldiers. Each one she eyed looked nervous, angry or more blank faced when she eyed them. She looked at Buttercup, who was looking at her, then the guards.

Bubbles simply shook her head, trying to look mournful and passive. Especially passive. Freaking out the guards now would be bad right now.

The case continued on. Mr. Loks kept asking daddy questions, and they were answered. The day waned. It was four-thirty when the judges called for a recession in the proceedings, to be continued at nine the following morning.

Bubbles could feel some of the tension leave the room in a moment. The defense left first, followed by their usual retainer of GREM soldiers. They made it back to the defense preparation room. The soundproof door closed. Everyone but the soldiers took a deep breath of relief.

Mr. Loks was sitting at the head of the table, looking calm cool and collected. "Well. That was the first day. Professor, good work. Your paperwork saved this from being a one day trail, and your words kept the ball in our court until tomorrow. I can brief you on a few things. But I want food first."

Sean, the blonde haired assistant, shook his head, "The escort doesn't get here for another hour. We are stuck here until then."

Mr. Loks nodded, "Then I don't brief for at least another two hours. I need an energy drink and three Excedrin. I need to think ahead of the prosecution and I can't do that with a headache from low blood sugar."

Bubbles had some urgent business of her own. "May I go to the bathroom?" Mr. Loks nodded, "Sure. If your guard approves."

Bubbles and Buttercup must be escorted to the bathroom, but thankfully the men don't enter with them. The twins learned early on that the guards do not group trips, so they always had to separate.

Bubbles looked to the lieutenant of the guards and he nodded briskly.

"Thank you!" Bubbles was not eager to anger the men, so she tried her hardest to not be a burden. Some seemed to appreciate it. Others… seemed to dislike her more for it. Still, it was all she knew how to do.

She walked with the three men to the bathroom, but entered by herself. It was a nice bathroom, befitting the federal court, grey marble and wood stylings up each corner. Buttercup took the first stall and did her business. One of the fluorescent lights began buzzing painfully. She knew they were more environmentally friendly, but sometimes they could be so annoying.

She washed her hands when someone stepped out of the last stall in the row with the click of heels. Bubbles jerked to look. It was the prosecution lawyer. The hawk eyed woman without the glimmer of a smile on her face. Mrs. Valenti.

"Miss Utonium." Bubbles had never heard her speak. It was the sound of a woman who had seen years of life and expected no guff, not the slightest bit of argument. Bubbles felt the urge to straighten her dress as if before a teacher.

"Um. Hi, I don't think we've met. I'm Bubbles." It was pure reflex. She was chatty at heart and nothing would change that. Bubbles offered her hand, up to the tall, tall woman. Normally Bubbles would have levitated, but it was illegal to do that, and besides, would probably be used against her in the trial.

Mrs. Valenti ignored her hand and her words. She instead continued as if she had rehearsed, "Miss Utonium, I have been authorized to offer you a deal."

"A deal?" Bubbles was confused.

Mrs. Valenti nodded, "In exchange for your cooperation, your family will be freed from the burdens of this trial. The United States government usually accedes to the Neo-Tokyo Protocol. However, there are times when national treasures are at risk. In these situations, the government likes to intervene. Offering a mutually beneficial offer for most parties involved. You and your sisters are veritable gods, let alone heroes. But not all of you can escape from this trial."

Bubbles was very, very confused. "I'm sorry… I don't quite under-"

Mrs. Valenti interrupted her, "If you give yourself up as the scapegoat for this trial, your family goes free, Bubbles. I have the paperwork here."

Bubbles was not born yesterday. She was born three years ago. It took the blue-eyed girl a long time to learn that under no circumstances should she ever trust a stranger offering her promises. "I don't believe-"

She was cut off again, "Bubbles. Do you really think you should be taking that sort of risk right now? Your family will end up in jail for life. You will be back in that GREM detention facility again, isolated until you die. Just another experiment gone bad."

Bubbles was starting to get indignant, "Now wait a minute. We've a chance. I am not listening to you."

Mrs. Valenti looked down at her, over her own glasses. "You really believe that once they bring Brick or Mojo Jojo to the stand that you can win?" She took another step forward. "You are deluding yourself, Miss Utonium. Everyone one will see them as your siblings and wonder… "When will the Powerpuff Girls be next to go insane?" But with my offer. Your family is free, and only you can save them. Think about it."

Bubbles felt sick. She looked down at her shoes and plain black dress. If the Rowdyruffs, and Mojo Jojo got on the stand… she hadn't thought about it like that. She couldn't think, sitting here. That buzzing noise was giving her a headache. It was all she could hear, but the breathing of the lawyer.

Bubbles felt the air come out of her lungs like she had been hit by a monster. "Why do you have a noise scrambler thing activated?" That buzzing was no light. It was one of the same devices that made electronic recording impossible.

Mrs. Valenti frowned, "Do you expect me to want this conversation recorded for-"

Bubbles cut her off, "Shut up." Something else was off. Bubbles listened. There was the buzzing machine, coming from the stall Mrs. Valenti left. There was the soft hum of lights from above. There was the sound of the pair of them breathing. There was only one heart beat in the room. Her own.

She looked up at the think posing as Mrs. Valenti and asked, "What are you?"

The woman looked more cross than usual for a moment. She then tilted her head back to look at Bubbles like she was a misbehaving dog.

Then the thing that was Mrs. Valenti grinned wide enough to split her face in half, or so it seemed. What came out of her mouth was worse. It was a musically underscored, one that seemed to reverberate around the room and into her gut. "_Oh, Bubbles. I seem to have forgotten. You have grown smarter over the year I vanished._ **I should know better than to make such mistakes**."

Bubbles stared up at Him. Him smiled down at her.


	18. Ch 18: Savior to Slave

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 18:

Savior to Slave

Bubbles heart beat fast enough for two people, and she felt a tremor thrum from the depths of her stomach to the tips of each of her extremities. It was Him. The monster than haunted all of the girls' nightmares, Bubbles especially. The monster seemed to always be especially obsessed with her

The red skinned demon was as he had always been. Black goatee sharp enough to cut. Ebony, high heel boots that went up to his thighs. Covered in a demented pink-obsessed Santa's suit, he held his arms crossed behind himself. Bubbles could still see the tips of those crab claws, peeking out from behind his back, shining deadly. Those glowing green eyes appraised her appraising him.

"_Do you like what you see? I don't appear to have changed much, have I? Then again, neither do yooouuu._" The "you" was dragged out, as Him began to walk around her as if to see her from all sides. The blonde haired girl turned to follow his languid, predatory motions.

Bubbles was shaking, she couldn't stop it. She knew Him would see it as terror. She knew it was just mostly terror. Her mind raced through options. Fleeing: The guards would catch her and father goes to jail. Calling for help: Him returns to being Mrs. Valenti, and Bubbles is blamed for causing trouble. Fight: Worse than Fleeing. Bubbles could foresee failure at every point, except one. "W… what do you want?" She tried to sound calm and indignant, but she knew her voice shook and stuttered.

"_Oh, hohohoho, aren't you precious, dear? You are so tough and strong now, even without your sisters, is that right?_" His sneer sharpened, laughing at her attempt to remain calm.

Bubbles formed her hands into fists and she took a deep breath, "I'm going to leave then." Bubbles then began the unthinkable. She began to turn away from the mass murderer and monster, towards the door. The words and actions were pure Buttercup, bravado and brazen bluster.

There was a clack of claws, and Him's arm was pressed to the door above her head. _"Bubbles- **DO NOT IGNORE ME.**_" The lights in the bathroom flickered as his cold dark voice broke out. Bubbles shuddered, and turned away from the door.

Towering above her was his grim goateed face. If he was not to let her free, then she would not like to stand this close to him. She stepped out from under his glare and walked towards the center of the room. Bubbles was frightened, absolutely. Panic clawed at the back of her throat, but she couldn't give in. "Fine. Say your deal, then let me leave, please."

Still looking furious, Him's features softened enough for him to growl out a response. "_It seems that I have lost your respect in my power. What happened to you, Bubbles?_" He still stood in front of the door, hand against the door, his head turned at an impossibly harsh angle to look at Bubbles.

Bubbles remained stalwart. "Just tell me what you want," she was shaking, but tired of waiting for the axe to fall. Bubbles was intimately familiar with fear. This was not worse than her stay in the G.R.E.M. laboratories, a place she still might spend the rest of her days if the trial goes poorly.

Him nodded, and turned his body from the door without changing the angle of his head. "_Fine, we will play by your adult terms, Bubbles._" He tilted his head to stare at her short frame. "_I want you. Give yourself to me, and I will make this trial go away. The Professor will be exonerated, and everything will go back to normal. Isn't that a wonderful deal, my dear Bubbles._"

Bubbles took a breath and let it out in a sigh. "No. Can I go now?"

His eyes narrowed, and his voice turned dark again- "_**NO? BUT**_-" He stopped himself and calmed down, speaking slowly and sweetly, "_Why are you being so infuriating?_"

Bubbles sighed, "What do you think I learned from my baby years with you as a villainous teacher?" She frowned at his surprised look, "You never really thought any of us were anything but dumb kids, Him." Bubbles felt confidence from somewhere, though she couldn't guess where. "We are not dumb. You are the monkey's paw. Any wish we has twice as bad consequences."

Him had a fiery look in his eyes for a moment, before softening with a widening grin, "_Oh, Bubbles, Bubbles, is that what you learned? Did you never learn the flip side of this situation?_"

Bubbles was confused, and it probably showed.

He answered her unspoken question, "_The flipside is that the consequences of saying no are** TEN TIMES WORSE**._" He slipped into his demonic rant again, and Bubbles took a step back. "_**YOUR PINK SISTER IS ROTTING IN A PERSONAL HELL, YOUR GREEN SISTER IS SITTING STUPID, BOUND TO TAKE THE STAND AND SAY SOMETHING STUPID. AND YOU!**_" His tone softened, "_Are going to be taken back to that lab forever. Your soul will be robbed of you, almost as completely as I would do it, dear Bubbles. Come with me. We can be happy together, and if you are good, I might let you visit your family occasionally._"

Bubbles shook her head. "No. Nothing in the world is that simple. Not anymore."

The red demonic thing that stood before her looked down at her. "_What took your innocence from you while I was gone, Bubbles? Where is my lovable naïve blue eyed girl from a year ago?_"

Bubbles looked up at him, weary of his talk and fearful of the consequences of going to the bathroom too long, "May I leave now?"

Him seemed to consider this for a few moments, "_If I cannot convince you now, I will show you how futile your fight is in my arena._" He smiled something vicious in mind. "_Do you know what is funny? I didn't even plan for this trial. I just stumbled upon the plans to lock away you and your family were already in the works. I just decided to tag along... Lawyership was always my favorite hobby, did you know? I visit every graduation of my fledgling acolytes._" He voice was wistful for a moment, and Bubbles wondered what it was that made Him fawn in memory. She also decided it was probably not something she would find pleasant.

He broke out of his thoughts, and looked down at Bubbles, "_Leave. Just remember that if you try to bring up who I am,_" there was a shimmering of light and a blur. The stern faced Mrs. Valenti reappeared before Bubbles, his voice was cheerful and dark, not like Valenti's voice yet, _"No one will believe you! I will destroy you in court. Now get out, I need to powder my nose._"

Bubbles nodded and fled with more haste than she should have. She was still a coward at heart. If Buttercup had been here, she would have thought of something smart to say in retort. Instead, Bubbles raced to the bathroom door and pushed it open, where the two guards who waited for her were standing. They acknowledged her presence with a nod before walking back towards the defense's preparatory room.

* * *

Buttercup was bored sitting around, but knew she shouldn't take out her restlessness on the others around her. She kicked her feet underneath the table, too short for most adult chairs. She sighed, wondering, for the umpteenth time, if she would be stuck like this forever. Mr. Loks had his head on the table, and dad was paging through paperwork, probably reminiscing on his lost love.

She looked at the time, wondering what was taking Bubbles so long when her blue eyed sister stepped into the room. Buttercup sat straight up, staring at Bubbles. She was pale as a sheet and trembling. Buttercup was about to ask her when Bubbles gave her the hand motion for "silence". Buttercup swallowed her words and nodded. She couldn't guess why her sister was so frightened.

Bubbles took the seat next to her, pushing the rolling chair closer climbing into it like a child. She then leaned her head onto Buttercup's shoulder. Buttercup would have pushed it off, if Bubbles hadn't been trembling so hard. Buttercup whispered to her, "What's up? Are you okay?"

Bubbles seemed a little hesitant to say anything before whispering, "You have to keep calm, or it will ruin everything. Mrs. Valetti is him."

Buttercup almost laughed. The woman lawyer is him? What did… Buttercup's thoughts crashed, and she stuttered quietly, "Y-y-y-you mean-"

Bubbles nodded against her shoulder, her eyes closed, "He showed up in the bathroom. Said if we told anyone, he would ruin us." Bubbles swallowed, and said, "I don't know what to do, Buttercup. Should we tell Mr. Loks?"

Buttercup took a few moments, still reeling from the revelation. She finally caught up, and fervently hissed. "Are you kidding? Remember how freaked out he was when we talked to him last week about our fights with him? He would lose it!"

One of the Gremlins looked at her, curious or annoyed. Buttercup clamed up, and smiled nervously at him. They needed to talk about this in private, before the next crisis came to them. Buttercup wrapped her arms around her exhausted sister and waited for the escort to arrive.

* * *

Buttercup and Bubbles lay on the bed of their hotel, waiting for the briefing by Mr. Loks to end. He was in high spirits and seemed to have become chatty because of it. It wasn't until he nearly finished that the girls took notice.

"Unfortunately, it seems that there were some unexpected issues that arose at GREM facilities. They didn't give us a full report, but my source says that your daughter didn't take too well to your testimony, Dr. Utonium."

Bubbles head popped up from the bed, her head pounding from the encounter and the high frequency hum from Mr. Lok's device. "What did you say?"

Mr. Loks grimaced, "Blossom seemed to… freak out at your father's testimony."

Dejected, Bubbles asked, "Is she… is she alive still?" Bubbles would have assumed that she could, somehow maybe, sense if her sister was dead, but she had to make sure.

"They would not have accidentally killed your sister, not once she was captured. She is fine, though they probably have her drugged to high heavens." Mr. Loks seemed to have used all his tact in the courtroom, too happy with today's success to remember the importance of client reassurance.

Daddy was staring between the relieved Bubbles and calm Marcus like they had grown extra heads. "What do you mean, she freaked out? And why aren't you surprised?" The first question was directed at the lawyer, the second to the daughter.

Bubbles was about to respond, when Buttercup sat up, saying, "What did you expect, dad?" Green eyes met blue and Buttercup motioned for Bubbles to lay down. Nodding wearily, Bubbles lay her head back down and took off her glasses, eyes closed.

Buttercup continued, speaking about what she and Bubbles had last night, when they first heard about the Professor's wife, "You told us we were basically magically born from Chemical X since we were seconds old, and hid this woman, Bethany, from us. We thought we were special. Blossom especially. "

"She thought we were, I don't know, like messiahs to humanity. Gifts from a god. Something like that. She suffered for years at school and alone, thinking that she, for some reason, had to be in pain and isolation because she was special, or because that's what heroes do. Now she knows she was being treated as a sub-human child for *no reason*. Now that we are human… like for sure, with a mother and everything as a DNA donor…" Buttercup stopped, not sure how to continue.

Bubbles, blood pounding in her head, knew why Buttercup stopped. "People treated us like babies for years. You treated us like that, daddy. We are allowed to kill monsters and stop criminals and talk people out of suicide on a daily basis… but we can't stay up past ten? It's just a big double standard. That's why Blossom started acting like a child when you told her she couldn't help. That's why she started to become more and more introverted and obsessive-compulsive. Buttercup and I dealt with it, in our ways, but Blossom was always searching for that reason why our suffering wasn't so horrifyingly meaningless."

* * *

The professor, her father, never at a loss for stunned silence, sat there.

Buttercup added, "We used to need you there for us, but we grew up. We have been taking care of you now. And Blossom thought that was also our "duty", as she set up the lies to keep you working and happy."

Buttercup laid a hand on Bubbles's, knowing she was dead tired. So was Buttercup. She was tired of her dad's ignorance and surprise. Every time someone spoke honestly, he looked like a deer in the headlights.

Buttercup decided to cut his apology short, "Bubbles and I are dead exhausted. Could we skip the stuttered apologies from the adults to children speech and go to bed?"

Mr. Loks blanched, about to go into some practiced apology and the professor nodded dumbly. They both left.

The girls readied for bed and went to sleep.

* * *

Blossom floated in a shimmering sea. It asked her questions and she answered.

-Why did you react so violently when Utonium talked about her?-

Not quite in control of her own voice, she answered honestly. "I thought… I was special."

-What do you mean?-

"I didn't think we were human... I lived all my life being special."

-Did you not want to be human?-

"I wanted to be, but… settled for special. I gave up my happiness, my dreams and my goals. I wasn't a human. I would always be the child who fought crime. Until I died. Even if I just wanted to be a person, I could only be nice."

-Nice?-

"I was lied to for so long. I spent so much time believing I was nice. All of my time. Every. Single. Moment."

-You didn't consider that you could have been wrong?-

"We were babies, why would he lie to us?"

There was a long silence, and she fell in and out of consciousness like a leaf bobs in and out of water floating on a stream. The voice spoke again, and Blossom recognized Private Anderson's voice as the questioner.

"When this is over, are you going to be prepared to die?"

Blossom didn't say anything. She thought she was already dead.

The shimmering world slowly faded, and the questions stopped. The door to her cell closed again, and she was alone in the dark.


	19. Ch 19: Questionable Questions

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 19

Questionable Questions

The trail continued the next day, and the professor retook his place at the witness stand. Mr. Loks had finished his questioning, and it was now time for cross examination from the prosecution. The questioning was led by Mr. Davids. To Bubbles's relief, Mrs. Valenti sat at the prosecution table, scowling at the Professor.

Of course, as Bubbles looked at the woman, her penetrating gaze turned back to Bubbles, and for a moment, she saw a glimmer of mirthful cruelty hiding inside the woman. Bubbles looked away quickly, and took Buttercup's hand. Bubbles had not imagined it. Him was presiding over the court, and she couldn't begin to imagine how they could win.

"Professor Utonium, what was the purpose of your original research under Mrs. Bedford?" Mr. Davids's voice was high and commanding, and it was clear where Mr. Loks learned much of his courtroom manners.

The professor responded, "To determine the exact nature of Chemical X."

"If that is the case, why did you create the "so-called" Powerpuff Girls?"

Hesitation filled the answer, "They were not intentionally created."

Mr. Davids's smiled, as if pleased by the answer. "What did you do with the previous experiements conducted with Chemical X, before they were "unintentionally" created?"

"What do you mean?" The professor was already sweating. Bubbles felt for him. She knew that she would be up on the stands, later, and it would be just as hard for her.

"You performed experiments with Chemical X before, presumably. What was done with those experiments when they were completed? Were they left lying around?"

Daddy shook his head, "No, they were disposed of properly."

"Then why didn't you dispose of this experiment like you had all others before it?"

The professor, sounding surer, said, "I filled out the paperwork to have the experiment extended, and submitted it to my superiors."

"Why the change of plans?"

"Well," the professor continued, "This experiment resulted in a far more dramatic result than the ones previous. It… They warranted further study."

"Lets be clear here. Who exactly were "they"?"

"My… My girls, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup."

"They, your presumed daughters, warranted study, like an experiment?"

"Well," dad was turning a little grey, and glanced at where Bubbles and Buttercup sat. Bubbles could gather what was coming next. "They were unprecedented. I wanted to make sure that they were safe and stable for the real world."

Mr. Davids looked mortified, "You mean you want these test results to be classified as human, but you weren't sure if they were safe to be let out in society?"

Mr. Loks looked like he was about to shout an objection, when the Professor answered, "I wanted my daughters to be safe in the world. There had been no signs they were dangerous to the world."

"Yet they wield awesome power, and could kill everyone in this room, right now! How can you claim that they are not dangerous?" Mr. Davids motioned wildly with his hands, sweeping them across the crowd to emphasis that they were all in danger.

"So could the GREM soldiers in the room, but they aren't under trial."

There was a small ripple of humor through the crowd, and Mr. Davids felt the tension leave his questioning and switched tactics. "Who is Mojo?"

Thrown by the change in questions, the Professor answered, "He, er, was my lab assistant. We used him to test the psychoreactive elements in Chemical X."

"Did you intentionally give him superhuman cunning and intelligence?"

"No, that was an accident."

"So you unleashed a megalomaniac upon the world as an accident? One that has endangered countless lives and has been confirmed to have killed seventeen people?"

"I filed the papers to my superiors to have the proper authorities to come in and restrain him, but they rejected my claim."

"Why?"

The professor shook his head, "I have no idea. They never sent anyone to have him properly disposed of."

"But you admit that he was dangerous, and that it was under your experimentation that he gained his intelligence and lethal cunning?"

The professor looked like a trapped rat, "No, I didn't perform an experiment to give him the intelligence."

"Let me rephrase," Mr. Davids smiled like a shark scenting blood, "Was it in your lab, with your designated allotment of Chemical X that your former lab test subject chimpanzee, Mojo, gain his intelligence?"

The professor gulped, "Yes."

Mr. Davids grin widened, "No further questions for John Utonium. For now."

* * *

"The prosecution calls to the stand… Buttercup."

The green-eyed girl jumped, surprised at the turn of events. She wasn't supposed to go to the stand until later. It was the prosecution's turn to call someone to the stand for first questioning. Mr. Loks hadn't known for sure, but he suspected that Bubbles was going to be called first. She was both the most vulnerable of the two sisters and also knew the most about Bullet. Buttercup hadn't prepared herself to be up first.

Buttercup stared at Mr. Loks, who nodded, trying to get her to move. Buttercup looked at Bubbles, who squeezed her hand encouragingly. Buttercup stood and walked towards the stand, her shoes clacking loudly in the silent room. Buttercup looked at the prosecution, where Mr. Davids and Mrs. Valenti stared at her like they were hungry.

She shivered. Buttercup was not as afraid of Him as her other sister, but she had never really been the focus of his attention. She sat down on the chair, and saw she was barely tall enough to see over the witness stand. Mr. Davids drawled, "Could we get a booster seat for this class two extrahuman entity?"

The audience chuckled a little, breaking the silence, but Buttercup could feel the oppressive, demeaning implication behind his words. He was trying to belittle her humanity. Mr. Loks said it would start like this. She wondered if she would be ready for the way the rest of the questioning might go. She gulped.

Apparently someone had foreseen the need for the sisters to sit higher, and one of the soldiers approached with a plastic booster seat like seen in many restaurants. Buttercup blushed a little at the embarrassment of needing it, but she knew better than to complain. "Act like a young girl who just want to go home, not an indignant child," Mr. Loks had told her a couple of days ago.

Once she settled into the uncomfortable plastic seat, the lawyer continued, staring into Buttercup's face, "What is your name?"

"Buttercup Utonium…" Buttercup answered cautiously. Mr. Davids had called her by name just a few seconds ago.

"When did you first start calling yourself Buttercup Utonium?"

"Err, as long as I can remember."

Mr. Davids grin widened. "What name do you write down on your classroom assignments?"

Buttercup swallowed, "Buttercup."

"…Just Buttercup?"

Buttercup nodded, "Y-yes."

"Why don't you use your full name?"

"Because using my last name only makes sense if there are other Buttercups in class?"

"So you don't use your last name because it isn't important?"

"No, its important, I just don't need it in class."

"So you don't need your so called "father's" name in daily life?"

"No, I do. Its just if I were the only Timmy in class, why would I need write more than my last name?"

Mr. Loks smiled, "I am the one asking questions here, but for your information, humans usually consider their family name just as important as their personal name."

Buttercup swallowed, knowing she just walked into a trap. She scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.

"When was the last time you had a haircut, Buttercup?"

Buttercup jerked to attention, her gaze having strayed to Mr. Loks's serious face. "Uh, never. My hair doesn't grow. Very quickly, I mean. "

"And how old are you, Buttercup, to the month?"

Buttercup did some quick math in her head, "Um, 3 years and, like, seven months old?"

"Your hair hasn't grown in four years? That's very strange, don't you think, especially for a little girl?"

"Well, um, I just have slow growing hair."

"Uh huh." He let that response lay in the air. Buttercup swallowed. He was trying to make it sound like she wasn't human.

"Buttercup, do you like killing things?"

"What? No!"

"You admitted to the public that you enjoyed fighting monsters. How many of them do you capture?"

Buttercup's heard fluttered harder, adrenaline and fear making her answer sound strained, "Very few…"

"So what happens to the ones you don't capture?"

"We… usually kill them."

"So you enjoy fighting monsters that are regularly killed?"

"I don't enjoy the killing part-"

Mr. Davids cut her off, "Do you enjoy fighting monsters, ones that are usually killed at the end of the fight?"

"I just enjoy the fight, not the-"

"Do you hesitate when you kill?"

"No- I- I can't, people are in dang-"

"Answer only the questions asked. It sounds like you enjoy beating things to death, with no hesitation when dealing that final blow. Is that a good summary of your monster fighting?"

"NO ITS N-!" Buttercup slammed her hand on the chair handler beside her, making a loud cracking noise of flesh on wood. She barely kept herself from breaking the armrest off.

The courtroom was dead silent, and the soldier had reached for their weapons around the edges of the room. Buttercup swallowed again and said, in a meek quiet voice, "Sorry."

The questioning continued.

* * *

Bubbles wondered if the trial would be ending here with Buttercup losing her temper. Bubbles would have been embarrassed for her, if Buttercup hadn't been so red already. After her outburst, Buttercup resorted to one word answers.

Bubbles tried to catch her eye and smile encouragingly. Buttercup stared down into her lap, doing better to channel her inner innocent child for the cameras than she ever had before antagonizing the court guards. Bubbles glanced at the Mrs. Valenti suit worn by Him, but it seemed more interested in Buttercup than antagonizing Bubbles herself.

Once the room's murmur began to fade, Mr. Davids continued. "I don't feel safe in the room with this thing, Judges. I formally request that she taken to a more secure location to protect the public."

Mr. Loks stood and said calmly, "Naturally, I object. Mr. Davids seems to have forgotten that any person has the right to be emotionally upset on the stand. That does not quantify as guilt or evidence in the courtroom, and I can cite precedent."

The lead judge held up his hand for silence and the trio of men put their heads together facing away from the crowd. They must have had their own sound dampening device, for Bubbles could only hear a hissing noise, sort of like a faucet turned on in another room.

They took a minute to reach a decision and answered, "The interrogation will continue as is, but the witness is to be reminded that GREM authority can decide unilaterally that the danger is too great for the public without our approval. Any more outbursts from the defendants will be treated by us as a refusal to abide by the Neo-Tokyo court laws."

It took a moment for that to sink in and when it did, the audience began to murmur. Not loudly, but enough the the judge used is gavel and asked for silence.

There was silence, and the room's attention slid back to Buttercup and her interrogator.

Mr. Davids continued, changing the subject, "Buttercup, do you have any human friends?"

Buttercup caught offguard by the sudden change in topic and took a moment to respond. "… Yes." She was still meek and quiet. She didn't even look up.

"What are their names?"

"… Mitch… Janet… Selena… Corey…"

Bubbles had no idea who the last three people are, but Mr. Davids did. "How many of those people know what you are, and have met you in person?"

"…One."

"And who is that one person?"

"Mitch."

"And when did you talk to him last?"

Buttercup seemed to swell with breath, but just let out a huge sigh, before looking up at Mr. Davids. "A month, or a month and a half ago."

"Why so long?"

Buttercup answered with a little bit of choked-up pain, "Because he can't talk to me in school anymore. I saw him at an arcade."

"Why can't you talk to him at school?"

"Because he didn't, and I didn't, want to make him a social outcast like me."

"Why are you a social outcast, Buttercup?"

"Because one student told everyone else I was a monster, a brat, and a cheater in class."

"Did you ever beat up the person who called you those things?"

"Not after she called me those things."

"But you did beat her up before then?"

"… Yes."

Bubbles put her hands in her head. Mr. Davids was going to get the triplets convicted with just this one testimony. Of course, Buttercup wasn't lying, but it would be hard to explain to the world why the Powerpuff Girls beat up another five year old, even if Princess Morbucks had the best powersuit money could buy at the time.

"So how often have you beaten up on five year olds?"

Buttercup took a moment to answer, hesitantly, "A few times?"

"Uh huh. And who are the other three people you mentioned were your friends?"

"Um, penpals, mostly online."

"Did they know what you are?"

"… No."

"What ages were these friends?"

"Um, like thirteen to twenties?"

"Be more specific."

"… They are thirteen, seventeen and twenty three."

Mr. Davids paused in his slow back and forth pacing before the witness stand to look at Buttercup. "What did you write to them about?"

"Stories. Writing."

"What kind of stories?"

Buttercup was turning from pale white to a decidedly pink. "Um… Fantasy, romance, action-adventure… the usual…"

Mr. Davids turned back to his pacing, "You wrote romantic stories?"

"… Yes."

"What kind of romance?"

"… usually the kind between boys and girls."

"What kind of romance?"

Buttercup turned a little pinker. "Love… romance?"

Mr. Davids stopped again to face her. "Let me be more specific. In your stories, what sexual acts do the characters in your stories indulge?"

There were a few gasps in the audience, but not many. Mr. Loks stood up and said, "Objection, your honors. The prosecution is simply antagonizing the witness. The girl's hobbies have nothing to do with Dr. Utonium's alleged crimes."

The three judges looked to Mr. Davids, who affected an innocent look, palms upturned, "Your honors, I am interrogating a certified non-human to discover if it has any resemblance to a little girl, not the other way around."

The judges spoke to each other again, but it was a brief pause, before they faced the front. "Overruled. The prosecution may continue."

Mr. Davids turned back to Buttercup. She swallowed. "Buttercup, what sexual acts do the characters in your stories indulge?"


	20. Ch 20: Maws Of Defeat

Two chapters in two weeks? Blasphemy! Hope everyone enjoys! Authors notes in my profile if anyone is interested.

* * *

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 20:

Maws of Defeat

Buttercup looked between the judges and her assailant as they conferred on the objection. She was feeling miserable, embarrassed and frightened. She wondered if this was how Bubbles felt when she was trapped in the gremlin facility.

The green eyed girl took her brief moments of reprieve to their full advantage. She breathed, steadying herself for the next inevitable questions. Mr. Loks had prepared her, but being in a private hotel room and being in a public courtroom with cameras was, to put it inadequately, not the same thing. Buttercup wrote some racy things in her private time. It was cathartic. She was a young woman in a young girl's body. Or so she always figured. Her logic hadn't extended to what might happen if other people discovered her work. Now her life was on the line over it.

Buttercup was going to get everyone killed if she wasn't smart here. Buttercup knew she wasn't the smartest of the sisters, nor the most serene. She was the most independent of the three, really. Even Blossom concerned herself with keeping the other two out of trouble.

Buttercup supposed that if this were some TV special, she would probably have to end up relying on her sisters to survive this battle. This wasn't. She would die, be tortured or imprisoned for life if she couldn't do this.

So Buttercup took a breath and centered herself. She was strong by herself. She didn't write to make friends, please her family or to seek validation. She wrote to make herself happy. What she wrote was her business. It wasn't immoral unless she wanted it to be. The prosecution wanted it to be. Buttercup wanted to beat them into paste, especially Him. So she would not be ashamed, because it just wasn't immoral for herself. She never let herself become embarrassed by her actions in the past. She shouldn't start now.

These thoughts came to her all at once, as the judges came to their decision. As Mr. Davids question was repeated, Buttercup stopped trying to pretend to be a scared four year old. She started being herself. She swallowed.

"Buttercup, what sexual acts do the characters in your stories indulge?"

Buttercup was still red from her embarrassment earlier, but now she was feeling more indignant than scared.

"Well, I mean, the worst of it was intercourse, mostly between boys and girls. There was some oral too but I was never interested in going into details. Third and second base a few times, but the majority of it was making out. Is making out sexual?" She raised her chin as she answered, as if annoyed to be put upon by such questions. She was actually annoyed.

Mr. Davids looked at her suspiciously, "What do you mean, "mostly between boys and girls"?"

Buttercup furrowed her brow, trying to gawp at him like he was being dumb, "Um, boys can like boys and girls can like girls. Join the twenty-first century, bro." There were a few barks of laughter from the audience, which is the only thing that probably saved her from being held in contempt of court.

"I mean, have you written any stories with non-humans in the relationship?"

Buttercup shook her head, "No, not really. I like writing realistic fiction. One story had a vampire in it, but those have human rights in France, did you know? I set the story in France too."

Mr. Davids looked triumphant for a moment, before faltering. He glanced at the judges. Buttercup had forgotten, but one of the judges was French. The prosecution must have forgotten as well. Would it be a faux pas to insult French law?

Her attacker looked back to her. Mr. Davids looked furious now, and Buttercup felt like she finally was standing on solid ground. After a moment, the prosecution continued the attack from a different direction.

"Buttercup, do you think it out of the ordinary for human girls your age to be interested in anything considered sexual?"

Buttercup tilted her head, "Not… really. I mean, look at how sexualized toys like Barbie are, or how there is makeup kits for little girls."

Mr. Davids was almost ready to grind his teeth, "How many of them write stories with sex in them?"

Buttercup shrugged, "I don't know."

Mr. Davids commented, "I assure you it is few. Have you ever been in a romantic relation with someone else?"

Buttercup felt a little cross, but answered, "Yes. It was not a good one."

Mr. Davids pressed, "Is he a convict?"

"He is now, but he was a minor like me at the time."

"Did you perform sexual acts with him?"

Buttercup blanched, "What? Yuck! With Ace? No way!"

Mr. Davids grinned like the cat that caught the canary. "I have the testimony from "Ace", your former lover, that says otherwise. You have just lied on the stand, Buttercup. What do you have to say about that?"

Buttercup looked at him straight in the eyes, "Are you talking about Ace, Leader of the Gangreene Gang? Who was put into jail for forging checks, posing as an officer of the law, and five counts of perjury? I mean, isn't that lying to the court?"

Mr. Davids closed his eyes and took a breath. When he opened them again, he switched topics, clearly feeling he lost this battle. He tried to broach her on the same topics he had before, about her eagerness to kill and her social status amongst her peers. He never shook her again, and just before it became the Defense's turn to question Buttercup, the court adjourned again.

* * *

Bubbles beamed at her sister when she got off the stand and approached them as the court room slowly emptied. She was so proud of her dark haired sister. She did amazing. At first, Bubbles was certain they were all going to jail forever, but Buttercup just pulled herself together like nothing. She even made a few of the reporters laugh. Bubbles could hear them as they waited for the defense to leave the courtroom, talking amongst themselves in hushed tones.

Some of them were going to undoubtedly focus on Buttercup's outburst at the start, but some wanted to talk about how it seemed like the prosecution was just making a four year old cry. Others were going to rant about the rampant sexualization young girls face every day and how it was destroying the moral fiber of the future. Bubbles felt the last ones might be missing the point about her daddy's trial, but she supposed their heart was in the right place.

She embraced her sister as Buttercup joined them. Buttercup hugged her back, and Bubbles could feel her trembling. They couldn't hug for long, because they had to go to the preparation room before anyone could leave the courtroom.

Following Mr. Loks, they arrived in short order, where Bubbles hugged her sister again, knocking her glasses askew in her eagerness to comfort her sister. The door closed and the high pitched whine of the electronic scrambler filled the air.

"Oh Buttercup, I was so worried! Are you okay? Can I get you anything?"

Buttercup seemed to be blushing a little bit, but it could have been a remnant from the questioning, "Yeah, no. I am okay. Thanks Bubbles." She sounded dazed and a little woozy.

"You did okay up there, Buttercup," Mr. Loks said, leaning down to pat her on the back, "Really."

Professor Utonium frowned, "Just okay? Buttercup was up there alone, against that man without defenses." He smiled down at his daughter. "She did amazing."

"Well, she did yell at the prosecution. I told her explicitly that it would not go over well." Mr. Loks said, which made Buttercup sag a little, hanging her head.

Bubbles put her arm around her sister, "Yeah, but she did good when they asked about her writing. She even made the audience laugh."

Buttercup smiled at her sister, but said, "I'm sorry. I was trying to pretend to be the meek four-year-old, but I under did it then over did it. If I didn't try to be more confident, I was going to die from embarrassment before the trial could end."

Mr. Loks nodded, "That's why I said you did okay up there, Buttercup. We didn't lose much. You didn't annoy the judges, and we aren't going to lose the case because of today alone."

Buttercup nodded, and they drifted to the topic of dinner. Bubbles watched as Buttercup didn't interject much else that night. Bubbles hoped she would feel better in the morning.

Bubbles wondered how Blossom was doing.

* * *

"… remain cal…" "...regulate…" "… nice and easy…" "… don't drop her…" "… how long will it…"

It was hard to focus. Her eyes wouldn't open. It sounded like she had earplugs in, and the audio kept cutting in and out. She vaguely understood this was because she was passing in and out of consciousness. The only sensation that could be described as strong was the sharp, endless pain throbbing from where she thought her head should be. It kept her from focusing on anything too long.

Blossom wondered if she was dying, like that man said she would. It wouldn't be too hard to kill her, the way they had her bound. Blossom couldn't cry, but she certainly felt the despair fill her like the pain in her head. She had cracked, and gave into all the anger and loathing she had stored up. She had, literally, gone insane. She wondered if, if she woke up, if she would be insane again. Maybe it would be best if she stayed like this forever.

It had taken time for her to build up to this conclusion. Days, weeks, months. She didn't know. She couldn't keep track of the time like she used to. She hoped her sisters were safe. She even hoped her lying bastard of a father was safe.

He didn't deserve to be yelled at by her. She had enjoyed existing and living in the world. Sure, the lies hurt. But Blossom had told enough lies herself, to herself and to others. It was her own damn hubris that led her here. She deserved to stay like this forever. It felt like she had already.

"Blossom." A voice penetrated her gloom. She would have jumped, but Blossom felt like there was lead in her veins, rather than blood. The voice repeated itself.

"Blossom." She couldn't speak or move. She pondered not responding. Maybe she could pretend to be in a coma forever. She could be trapped in her own head, all alone. Just like before she snapped.

"Blossom. We can tell you are conscious. Your brain is firing according to normal patterns. We need to know that you can hear us. Please acknowledge if you can."

Blossom would have sighed, but she didn't have complete control of… well, anything. She could manage a weak grunt. It caused the pain in her head to stab especially painfully. She wanted to whimper, but didn't want to hurt again.

"Oh, good." The voice sounded more relieved than she expected. It wouldn't have mattered if they killed her. She had freaked out and tried to escape as a class six extrahuman entity. It stood to reason she should be outright dead anyway.

"Blossom. Please do not try to escape again." Blossom snorted, very softly, but that also hurt. The voice continued, as if it heard her scoff. "We know you aren't able to do anything right now. The automated injection system we used to contain you was set too high. Your body is trying to recover, but you have multiple stress fractures and major ligament damage. You were only supposed to be knocked out." The voice paused, "We don't know what malfunctioned, but we are making efforts to prevent it from happening in the future."

Blossom wondered why they were explaining this to her. It wasn't General Grimaldi. It was the voice that led her through the tests when she first arrived. It sounded soothing and, almost, apologetic. Why did they care how they treated her? She was still legally a monster. What were they doing? Why were they being nice to her?


	21. Ch 21: Going Under

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 21

Going Under

Blossom decided to stop trying to guess at the game that GREM was playing. If they were going to be nice today, then she would take it at face value.

Blossom was slowly regaining feeling in her body. She wished she wasn't. The mounting pain coming from her limbs was incredible. She groaned. The pain worsened. She stopped groaning. The voice came again. "We are unable to provide any painkillers. Your body is trying to process too many chemicals, and another one added to the batch could kill you."

Blossom didn't reply, but she was busy trying to not let the muscle spasms that gripped her body from causing further damage. She wasn't in the full body suit anymore, used to restrain her movements. She could feel manacles that held her arms and legs to the table below, however.

"Your body fought the serum we gave you for a while, and then quit. We had to resuscitate you three times. Your body would cycle between fighting for your life and failing. We had to step in during those periods when your power s gave out." She couldn't imagine why she wasn't in the suit anymore still. It seemed wildly inappropriate. What had she done to deserve being saved, according to GREM? It would be like saving Him if he was suffering from dehydration.

Blossom grunted all the same, despite the pain. She meant it as something between and an apology and a thanks. If they were going to be talkative, she could at least be polite.

The red-eyed sister felt stupid. She freaked out. She freaked out about a little lie. She wasn't special in the same way she thought she was. Blossom chastised herself for being upset about not being perfect. For not being extrahuman. For being just a little girl.

What really tore Blossom up was that this was just the tip of the iceberg. She had one little emotional breakdown. She didn't feel any better afterwards, just hollow. There was no relief, no catharsis. She didn't know how to put herself back together. Maybe she couldn't. She probably wouldn't need to. Blossom's body might have tried to keep her together, but it probably wouldn't serve much purpose. Blossom just wanted to shut down. The pain just kept reminding her that she couldn't. With a labored breath, she just tried to keep the pain to a minimum.

It was a start.

* * *

The next day was relatively easy. Mr. Loks interviewed Buttercup for the cross-examination. Nothing could take away from the impact at her yelling at the prosecution. But it did clean up much of the mess created by her writing habits.

Once the Buttercup was free from the stand, and Bubbles knew her sister was happy for it. Of course, that meant the stand was open. It was the Defense's turn to call someone up to the stand. Bubbles knew that she was going to be called next. Mr. Loks told her to be prepared. But even when it came time to be called to the stand, she jumped in her seat.

Buttercup patted her on the back. Bubbles trudged up to the stand. She knew she shouldn't be so afraid. She knew what questions were going to be asked. Still. She was being thrust into the spotlight again. She was the linchpin of the defense. Bubbles was humble, but there was a difference between being humble and lying. Bubbles was good at the former, but not at the latter.

Bubbles was good. She volunteered at a dance studio for children. She cared for animals. She helped her friends, which she had many, with their homework. She hadn't ever been associated with villains except for those who targeted her. She doesn't even eat meat.

Mr. Loks even brought up the hardest part of Bubbles's history: Bullet and Bunny. This was mainly to deflate any attack the Prosecution could come up with, but they also needed to be addressed. Both were dead. Bunny after scarcely a day, and Bullet when she died fighting a moss monster that nearly leveled the all the forests east of Townsville. Bubbles had cried when talking about both.

Mr. Loks pressed her on the details of her involvement with the Rowdyruff Boys, her father's involvement with Sedusa, and what she knew about the disappearance of Fuzzy Lumpkins.

Mr. Loks had wanted to talk about Him too. Bubbles refused. He pleaded with her the night before her turn at the stand. She absolutely refused. He explained to her that he was scared of Him too, but she wouldn't summon Him by just talking. There was no way that the monster would appear in court, surrounded by GREM forces, while she was on the stand.

Bubbles had started to cry uncontrollably at that point. She was afraid to hold back. If she didn't start crying, she might start laughing at the irony. It was too late for that. The fox was in the hen house. It took her daddy an hour to calm her down. Bubbles wouldn't tell them why she was crying, but that night, Buttercup held her hand while they slept.

Bubbles couldn't dare talk about Him while he was there. In the courtroom. Wearing the Mrs. Valenti suit. She would break down and say something that would get her family killed by "lying". As it was, she would occasionally dart her eyes at the "woman" on the prosecution. Even Mr. Loks noticed her nervousness while she was on the stand and tried to ask her about it. Bubbles wouldn't say.

When it came time for the prosecution to start interrogating her, Bubbles had almost froze in fright. She saw Mrs. Valenti whisper something in Mr. Davids's ear. Was she- err, He going to question her? But no, it was just Mr. Davids.

He asked her about Blossom mostly. And Buttercup. Bubbles couldn't insult a flea, so this got the Prosecution nowhere. He asked about how she felt about her mother, which Bubbles couldn't answer with much emotion. He then asked her about Mojo Jojo.

Bubbles explained that he was a bad monkey. She talked about how he was always causing trouble. Her and her sisters had stopped him many times. She, reluctantly, stated that she knew he was partially responsible for her creation. Suddenly, the prosecution stopped. He said he had no further questions.

Bubbles looked at Mr. Loks confused. He shrugged. Bubbles was dismissed from the witness stand. She got down and walked over to the defense's side of the courtroom.

Buttercup gave her a hug. Bubbles was a little underwhelmed. It was easy. Very, very easy. She sat down and watched the prosecution stepped forward, to announce their next witness.

Mr. Davids looked up at the judges, saying, "Our next witness cannot be brought to the stand today. We humbly request that the court would rest until tomorrow. Our witness needs to be prepared before it comes to the witness stand, your Honors."

Two of the judges started to convene, but the lead judge asked a question before they could turn on the sound damper. "It? What do you mean by "it" coming to court?"

Mr. Davids smiled modestly, but Bubbles could tell he was ecstatic for the opening.

The shark of a lawyer tilted his head down in an apology that might have won him an Oscar, and said, "Well, your Honors, we didn't know how long the previous witnesses would take, and we couldn't keep a criminal mastermind waiting for transit without jeopardizing safety. Especially when it has escaped so many times, even after being "caught" by the Powerpuff Girls." He waited long enough to let that sink in, but before the Judges got impatient.

"Our next witness is Mojo Jojo."

There were murmurs in the courtroom audience, and Buttercup snapped to attention. What? Who?

The judges quickly conferred with one another. Court was adjourned until tomorrow.


	22. Ch 22: Death and Classes

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 22:

Death and Classes

The Utonium defense got back to the hotel in little under two hours, a record best for traversing the town of Citiesville, with traffic and the escort they constantly sported. Mr. Loks had thoughtfully started calling the hotel on the way back from court. By the time Buttercup and her sister had washed up, their dinner was waiting for them at the fold up table provided by the hotel. Every night since the trial started on Thursday, the six of them, the two Utonium girls, their father, Mr. Loks and his two assistants, had sat down at the end of each day and reviewed the day's proceedings.

Because Bubbles had gone so smoothly, there wasn't much to say. So they focused on the task for Monday, tomorrow. They had been going to court for four days straight since it started on Thursday. Buttercup thought the logic of it was pretty obvious. Why in the world would you hold court cases for scientists who have created mad monsters and machines that might still be on the loose, but takes breaks for weekends?

Buttercup was the first to ask the question on everyone's mind, as they each ate their food. "Soooo… Mojo Jojo… what do we do?"

The lawyer, with the curious and amusing perchance for macaroni and cheese with ham, swallowed before replying, "We don't do anything. Remember, this is really my arena of battle. You don't need to do anything but be quiet and look cute." He looked a little apologetic, "Ah, not that I meant that as rude as it sounded."

Bubbles chimed in, "We have been fighting Mojo Jojo for a long time… He is a bad monkey, but he isn't… well, he is evil. But he isn't _*very*_ evil. He doesn't try to kill civillians…" Of course, it wasn't hard to accidentally hurt and maim people when his weapons have collapsed buildings and destroyed streets. Bubbles went back to stirring her vegan salad around.

Buttercup nodded, not quite feeling the same sympathy, but understanding her sister's intent, "And he is pretty sick. Um, medically, I mean. Last time he fought, he wasn't all there and his hair was going grey."

Mr. Loks put his fork down for a moment and said, "You really shouldn't express those opinions ever, outside of complete privacy. I know Townsville folk are kind of out of sync with the rest of the world, but monsters like him, ones that can create machines and level cities, are some of the worst atrocities to come from the turn of the millennium. Townsville has been sheltered because of you girls, but saying he isn't _*that*_ bad, is like saying that Jack the Ripper hadn't killed important people, so it wasn't a big deal."

Both the girls winced at that, and their father stepped in, "Hey, there's no need to be harsh about it. You are probably right… but that doesn't make his testimony still sting." Professor Utonium still looked a little despondent, given his personal guilt in making Mojo Jojo. He took a bite of his burger, more out of obligation than any seeming enjoyment.

Mr. Loks nodded, but Buttercup saw he wanted to say more on the topic. Before he could, the black haired girl spoke up, "He definitely wasn't a good guy. We won't say anything sympathetic about him outside of, like, complete privacy." Buttercup frowned, "It's not like we liked him. I just miss fighting enemies I could punch."

The lawyer looked like he was about to continue his point, but his speech died and his annoyance deflated. Instead he asked rhetorically, "What I want to know is how and why they brought him to court. Before six months ago he was a Class Five extrahuman entity, and you can't bring a Class Five to court. Somehow, he was dropped from a Class Five to a Class Four."

Bubbles screwed up her face, "What do the different classifications mean? Me and buttercup are two , right?" Bubbles paused, "I mean, Buttercup and I are."

Everyone looked a little surprised that Bubbles corrected her own grammar, but Mr. Loks recovered first, "Ah, the classes are defined by GREM, really, and it breaks down as follows. Class One entities are those people who have a single power, or relatively tame powers or abilities that stand them out from every day humanity. Someone who can levitate, or someone who can start fires with their mind. Even people who have increased strength and endurance are usually covered under Class One."

"Class Two are those with a broad range of powers or those that can enact their powers on a wide range of things. You girls are a prime example. Flight. Strength. Speed. Heat vision. Class two also covers many super geniuses, who can create and modify tools around them to create just about anything. Class Twos have to register with their governments and check in once a year."

"Class Three covers anyone or anything with nigh limitless power, or those with abilities that cover almost anything. Deities that come to Earth are this. Super geniuses with vast amounts of other powers are also classified as Three. These are very rare, and you probably have heard of two or three, such as OmniMind, the leader of Extraterrestrial Diplomatic Corp, who deals with aliens that want to visit Earth, friendly or not. Class Three entities are usually not allowed personal lives and work for the world government in either public or secret capacities."

He shrugged, and twirled his fork in the air as emphasis, "Class four, five and six are the same as one, two, and three, but that also are suspected criminals, previously incarcerated, or mentally unsound." He smiled sympathetically at them, and Buttercup finished for him.

"And Blossom was not the most mentally sound when she was tested…" She sighed, and put her silverware on her plate, the last few bites of steak left untouched.

Bubbles chirped querulously, "Why is she a Class Six instead of a Class Five?"

There was a dry laugh, and Buttercup was surprised to hear it came from herself. "Because she is a smart ass. Looks like her being the smartest has been empirically proven." She asked one last question, knowing the answer, but needing to hear it, "Has a Class six ever been downgraded to something else?"

Mr. Loks hesitated, then shook his head, "No, but we will figure something out."

* * *

The next day in court was quiet. Everyone was waiting with bated breath for the prosecution to bring in their next witness. Bubbles fiddled with her dress, pulling at the hem while she looked around listening for some sort of sign of his arrival. Mr. Davids and Him dressed in the Mrs. Valenti suit looked calm and satisfied, like they had already won the case. Mrs. Valenti even caught Bubbles starting at Him, and she flinched and looked away.

Bubbles heard the double doors at the back of the room suddenly open with the steps of many men or women in combat boots. People suddenly stood and turned to look at the entrance. Bubbles could hear gasping and no few curses of incredulity and fear. Bubbles and her sister were clearly too short to see anything yet, and they weren't dumb enough to try floating for a better view. They waited, Bubbles glancing sideways out of her glasses at her daddy and Mr. Loks, so she could get a feel for what was going to happen. Whatever rolled down the aisle through the audience was being escorted by eight heavily armed people. From the sound of their gear, it was GREM soldiers.

Bubbles couldn't make sense of the chatter throughout the audience; it was all too close, too quiet. Mr. Loks looked on impassively. When the sound of rolling wheels came closer, Daddy gasped, and Bubbles knew it was bad. She looked back to the aisle.

Around the corner, Bubbles saw the beginnings of the wheelchair first. Following along with were a flock of machines. Each machine had its own purpose, trying to replace one vital organ of the passenger in the chair. Bubbles could see an iron lung, a dialysis machine, and even an external heart, pumping blood for the patient. There were eight soldiers walking phalanx to the quieter nurses and the doctor pacing the patient, all told a dozen people watching just one patient.

Of course, Bubbles's eyes were avoiding the patient. She felt her eyes sliding off the sick thing in the wheelchair. Her mind wouldn't process it. Of course, when Buttercup saw who was in the chair, she gasped and gripped Bubbles's arm. She cursed quietly because Buttercup had been told not to do so in publicly. As the grip tightened on her arm, Bubbles focused on her former foe.

Mojo Jojo was dying. He should have been dead, looking at all the machines he needed, but clearly, he was just dying a long, slow death, drawn out by each device. His face was sunken, his skin was horribly grey, nearly as grey as his hair, where he still had hair. His hair was patchy and looked oily, like his skin oozed underneath. One of his eyes were milky, and he had no muscle in his limbs, though he was still chained to the chair like he could cause any trouble in his current condition.

Bubbles bit back a cry. She wanted to shout something about animal cruelty, about how they needed to help him, give him pain medication, anything. For she could see that Mojo Jojo was in pain, his fists gripped as tight as he could on the wheelchair arm. Bubbles guessed they couldn't drug him and get usable testimony. Bubbles felt tears blur her vision. Mojo Jojo didn't need, didn't deserve this. Bubbles knew he had been sick. She could see he should have been on his deathbed.

* * *

Blossom felt like she was on her death bed. It had been hours since she first woke up, and only in the last few minutes has she felt so worn out from being tired that she was halfway coherent. He body still pulsed in agony from her own treacherous heart, which beat inexorably on, heedless of its owner's pain.

On the bright side, she could open her eyes again. On the too bright side, even the smallest amount of light aggravated her migraine. The light looked normal at least, and wasn't a swirling miasma of color, like she was still coming down off of some very nasty drugs she had only read about. She probably had been coming off of drugs.

She sighed, and looked around blearily anyway. She didn't spot anyone, which was no surprise. She was a monster after all and you don't leave people around monsters to be eaten. Monster-ish. She at least was human enough to be legally human. She wouldn't have to apply for citizenship again.

She sighed again, remembering she would never be a citizen. She was a Class Six. She would never qualify for basic human rights. No Class Six had ever been downgraded.

There was a voice over the intercom. "Is something wrong, Blossom?"

The red-eyed girl closed her eyes, and her voice rasped, like a chain smoker long past their youth, "Can I get some water?" She had worn her throat down while the pain hit her. Her screams would have been enough to destroy part of the base, had they not implemented some sort of anti-harmonics and dampening system. As it was, her esophagus was as beaten to hell as the rest of her body.

The voice responded, "We have you on an IV, you shouldn't be dehydrated." Even though the voice was modulated to sound emotionless and robotic, Blossom couldn't help but decode the comment as being a little snide. So much for their earlier promised hospitality.

It was nice while it lasted, she thought regretfully. She decided to explain anyway, "I wanted to wash the taste out of my mouth." She said it as a pure explanation. She didn't intend for it to sound plaintive or whiny, just factual. Her mouth did taste foul. She didn't really want to know if it was the drugs or something worse that happened during her blackouts.

The voice dismissed her just as quickly, "We will see what we can do." Blossom waited to hear anymore, before settling in again, not sure if her pain would diminish enough for her to sleep, but wanting the rest anyway. The silence had been too much for her watcher, however. "Mojo Jojo is taking the stand at the trial right now." Blossom could definitely tell the speaker was being smug.

She didn't care all that much. It hurt to growl out her words, so she answered with a slow, nonchalant, "Is still alive?"

The voice didn't answer immediately, but it eventually asked, "What do mean, 'still alive'?"

Blossom scoffed, which hurt, so she stopped. She responded tiredly, "Tried to kill 'self last time we met. He was dying. Wanted to help us somehow." She could have sworn she heard the start of an expletive, but the intercom shut off too quickly.

Seconds later the voice asked pointedly, "Help you how? What did he say?"

Belatedly, Blossom realized she probably should keep her mouth shut from the start. While she didn't plan on hiding anything from these people eventually, the trial was ongoing. Anything she said could be used by the prosecution against her sisters. Blossom might not be of sound mind, but she didn't want her sisters to suffer her fate.

So Blossom closed her eyes and groaned again, letting her eyes go unfocused. She sat there, panting, while the voice continued, "Blossom. Blossom, what did you mean? What did you-".

The voice cut off again, and she wondered what the hell was going on. After a few moments more, the voice came back, the same yet different, "Blossom, are you doing alright? You look more alert."

Blossom blinked a few times, her mirrored reflection looking back at her in obvious confusion. "Is something wrong, Blossom?" The voice echoed itself.

She blinked again, and rasped out, like a chain-smoker long past their youth, "Can I get some water?" She didn't much care for theater, but she repeated her line.

"Absolutely. Someone will be there shortly."

The crimson sister sighed, and closed her eyes. She didn't have the willpower to puzzle out if she was going crazy, or if it was the voice behind the intercom. If she got some water, she would happily become schizophrenic to receive the boon. If it came to that.


	23. Ch 23: Testimony Tantamount

_No author's notes today._

* * *

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 23:

Testimony Tantamount

Buttercup had to look away from the primate who was in agony. Each breath was grasping, punctuated the pneumatic hiss of the oxygen pump pressing air into his lung. His eye were rheumatic and unfocused. His normally green skin looked like ham that had sit out too long, grey and very very dead.

The monkey was pushed forward before the crowd and before the judges. After a moment more, he was backed into the space before the prosecution, his machines interrupting the view to the witness stand. Buttercup looked at anywhere but the monkey. All she could think about was the last time she saw him. Blasting him with that fistful of energy. Seeing him so utterly defeated and sick, while she whined about not wanting to get shot. Buttercup almost wished she could be sent to GREM detention just to avoid this sight.

Two weeks and a half ago, Buttercup probably would have still been guilty about hurting Mojo Jojo, but she would have brushed it off quickly. Now, she saw that, more than anything, she had been just as nasty as Mr. Davids, beating up on the defenseless in the name of "justice". She wasn't ever going to be able to fight crime the same way. It was one thing to stop the monsters. They were usually mean and malicious and mindless. It was another to terrorize a criminal, a sentient being with more circumstances than she could understand, just to "beat them" in a fight.

Mojo Jojo had a mike set before him, though Buttercup wondered how he would speak with the oxygen mask on his face. His eyes were closed, as if dozing. Buttercup couldn't help but compare him to the patients in a senility ward of a nursing home. He didn't seem like he would be capable of talking coherently, let alone giving testimony. His head was not covered by the usual striped dome he preferred, but just a simple opaque white glass. If Buttercup was forced to give an opinion, she would have said it looked… shorter than it used to.

Her green eyes darted to see what Bubbles thought of the situation. The blonde sister looked even more horrified than Buttercup felt. Her blue eyes were glassy from moisture, and she was clenching her fists in helplessness. Bubbles didn't look away from the monkey, as if she was forcing herself to face what had happened to their fallen foe, but her had did shoot out and grab Buttercup's. For once, Buttercup didn't even want to complain.

Buttercup saw that the professor looked aghast at the site of his former monkey assistant. Mr. Loks looked on impassively, and the audience behind her, that she could see from her height, looked like a mix between angry fear and morbid curiosity. There were a few faces here and there that looked pensively sympathetic, but they were far and few in between. Buttercup could understand the majority, now that she thought about more than herself or her family. Mojo Jojo represented the worst of the worst in the modern era. A conniving and convicted monster.

Buttercup squeezed her sister's hand and settled back into her chair to watch Mr. Davids tear into the heart of the case and show the most damning evidence. Whatever Mojo Jojo said next would probably damn her and her sister into prison forever.

* * *

Bubbles held back tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. She couldn't help it. To see all those machines orbiting one of their most dangerous foes, and a helpless dying person, was heartbreaking. Mojo Jojo deserved better than this. He should at least get the privacy to quietly rest his way into death. Not dragged out her before the cameras, to be the prosecution's main hammer to beat down the dented defense of her daddy.

Soon enough, the audience quieted down, with the a little help of the judge's gavel, and Mr. Davids stepped forward. He stood before the monkey, though not too closely, as if to show fear to approach the dying animal in the wheelchair, as if Mojo was any threat to anyone right now.

The lawyer started slowly, as if wanting to drag out the pain of this whole mess as much as possible. "Witness, please state your name."

Mojo Jojo slowly opened his bloodshot and slightly filmy eyes. It was the first actual sign that he was even still there. Bubbles could see that the usual fire of misplaced fervor and brilliance usually present in his eyes was barely a glimmer now. He moved slowly, as if it hurt, and gripped the oxygen mask on his mouth. He pulled it away from face to say, quietly and without fanfare, "My name is… Mojo Jojo…" He let go of the mask and took a deep breath, as if those few words taxed him.

Bubbles was gaped at his conciseness. Buttercup was too, judging by the squeeze in her hand. Mojo never said something singly, once, with no repetition. He was a veritable fountain of words when he got started talking. That he said so little was more than enough of an indicator that he was dying.

Mr. Davids frowned, "What is your name, as designated when you were first acquired?"

Bubbles couldn't tell where this was going. She could hear Mojo faintly snort, before pulling the mask away again. "I was designated… they called me… my name was Jojo #3045."

Mr. Davids's frown vanished, and he continued, "Jojo. What are you?"

Mojo, for Bubbles would never think of him by any other name, sucked in a few breaths from the mask, as if gathering himself for the answer. "I am… a chimpanzee that… has been altered through contact with experimental… substances." Bubbles could hear no emotional inflection, and the monkey's eyes remained dull and unfocused. She bit her lip in consternation. Was he really that beat down? Could that energetic, manic, mad genius really be this tame, even when he was this sick? What did they do to him to make him cooperate?

Then a worse thought came to her. Was he cooperating to get his final revenge? Was this how he would doom the Powerpuff Girls, through helping the prosecution lock them away forever? Bubbles stared on helplessly, holding her sister's hand.

"Which experimental substances?"

"Chemical… X."

Mr. Davids looked pleased, "Could you remind the court for our edification: Are you the individual who tried to level the town with an earthquake machine two years ago?"

Mojo Jojo nodded slowly, "Yes."

"Are you the individual who built hunter robots that grabbed fifty two people and caged them three years ago?"

"Yes."

"Are you the individual who attempted to kidnap and murder key political figures in Townsville multiple times, such as the Mayor, his staff, and other civil servants?"

"Yes." Each time Mojo would speak, he pull the mask away from his mouth, pause, and answer, before replacing the mask, sucking in a breath of air quickly, like a drowning man pulled from water.

Bubbles stopped staring at the monkey, instead looking at the ground. She didn't need to look at the faces of the judges, or of the crowds. She could hear the murmurs beginning, and it sounded bad.

"Do you admit that seventeen people died in the years since your escape, directly or indirectly related to the destruction wrought by you or your creations?"

Mojo Jojo paused a little longer before speaking, "I don't… know. I never… kept a record, a tally, a scorecard."

She hunched a little further into her chair, the tiles on the floor scuffed and faded from years of use, by hundreds of defendants, guilty and innocent. Her hand never left Buttercup's. Bubbles could see from the corner of her eyes, just past her pig tail, that her green-themed sister was watching with rapt horror.

"Jojo Three-zero-four-five, how damage have you caused to the city, in dollars?"

"I… am not an… accountant or… a civil engineer… I don't know."

"I have done some math of only the damage that could be directly attributed to you. Does three point six billion sound reasonable?"

There was a pause. "How… much did it… cost when I destroyed… the Rosalind Tower?"

"The building you destroyed hadn't yet been finished, but costs were somewhere in the half a billion for the tower alone."

"Then… I would say… your estimates… are low, under value, rounded down…. I would not be… surprised… if your numbers are correct."

"Good. How many people have been displaced or hurt by your destruction, in your opinion?"

"Thousands. I don't… much care how many… mere humans… I have harmed."

Bubbles put head in her spare hand, shaking her head. How did they ever imagine that Professor Utonium would get out of this?

Mr. Davids sounded like he just won the Nobel Prize, become president, and been named "most amazing person ever" by Times Magazine, as he asked, "And just to confirm. Professor Utonium is responsible for the accident that not only created the Powerpuff Girls but also granted you your immeasurable intelligence?"

There was no pause as the answer came. "No."

Bubble's head shot up, staring at the monkey. He looked as calm and even and sick as he had before. Mr. Davids had already turned around, walking towards the prosecution table, still smirking.

"Ju-"he just started speaking, when the words uttered by his witness registered. His eyes shot open, and he turned around violently. The whole room had gone quiet, and his shouted question was heard by all. "What!?"


	24. Ch 24: Hominid ex Machina

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 24:

Hominid ex Machina

There was something off about the monkey on the witness stand. Well, there was quite a lot wrong with Mojo, but Buttercup was talking about beyond the surface. He must have been on some sort of drug, like a mood stabilizer. He wasn't shouting any lines, gesturing wildly. He occasionally repeated himself, but he was otherwise flat, dead, or without tone.

Buttercup couldn't pull her gaze away from the monkey, studying him to try to figure out his game. When he objected to the final question, Buttercup only frowned deeper, as Bubbles squeezed her hand.

The prosecuting lawyer seemed stunned, and spun around to yell at the monkey for breaking the pre-planned script. And it was a script. Bubbles had written enough dialog to tell that there was a certain practiced cadence to their words. Now the stage was working on improv. "What!?"

Mojo Jojo answered, quietly into his microphone. "No. Professor Utonium is not responsible for the Powerpuff Girls. He is not responsible for my intelligence. There was no accident."

The prosecution lead looked utterly furious for a moment, suttering, "I-I…" He seemed to gather himself and looked to the judges, "Your Honors, I would like to ask that we remove this dangerous criminal from the courts. He is trying to obstruct justice and lying to the courts."

Buttercup's eyes had stayed on Mojo, and she saw the monkey's eyes glaze over for a moment while everyone's attention was on the judges. He looked like he was trying to relax for a few moments until the issue was resolved.

Their defense laywer, Mr. Davids stood up and said mildly, "Objection, your Honors. The prosecution has taken all this time to prepare us all for this so-called prime witness. Once the witness begins arguing with him, Mr. Loks has decided that it wasn't worth the effort."

Mr. Loks immediately started in, "Your Honors, I have written testimony from the same witness that strictly contradicts his own words. I would like to submit that as evidence instead of the faulty verbal testimony here."

Mr. Davids continued, "That written testimony was obtain via questionable means that we can't begin to verify, nor does it give the defense any chance to refute. If there was a time to submit that testimony document, it was at the start of the trial. We have Mojo Jojo here. Let him bear witness. From where I am standing, the witness hasn't done anything that remotely appears to threating or obstructing from here."

Once Mr. Davids pulled everyone's attention back to Mojo Jojo, Buttercup could see his eyes visibly sharpen, where he appeared to be listening with mild interest, but without staring at anything in particular.

Buttecup wondered at his game. The judges conferred. It took longer than any previous conference between the trio. Buttercup took the time to look at her sister, who seemed to peer through her thick glasses at the judges, as if straining to hear them. Bubbles suddenly smiled, and Buttercup looked to the Judges, to see they were complete.

"We have found that the witness hasn't shown any threatening behavior. The prosecution can either continue, or hand questioning over to the defense."

Buttercup grinned too. Anything to cause the prosecution more trouble. Whatever game Mojo was playing right now… it couldn't be any better for their case than it is right now.

Mr. Loks gritted his teeth, and turned back to face the witness surrounded by life support. Seconds passed before Mr. Loks finally started to speak. "So. If Mr. Utonium did not create the Powerpuff Girls… who did?"

Mojo Jojo continued answering questions promptly as if there hadn't been a pause, "I did."

Mr. Loks grimaced, "You may have been involved, but you are not responsible. You are a monkey. Not human, and not culpable in court. You were John Utonium's property. The same accident that gave you your intelligence also created the Powerpuff Girls. He was responsible for the experiment, so he created all of you. "

Mojo simply replied with, "I wish to contend your statement on several points."

Mr. Loks grinned at him, "On what points?"

"First, I was never property of Professor Utonium. I was on loan from his company's regional headquarters in Citiesville. I was born in the Citiesville labs, and those labs retained my ownership."

The Prosecution waved that off. "That is a technicality. Mr. Utonium was responsible for your actions while he had possession of you, monkey."

"Secondly," Mojo seemed unperturbable, even as Mr. Loks goaded him, "I was part of an experiment testing the use of chemicals to improve the intelligence of primates before Professor Utonium ever owned me." Buttercup gasped, not believing it. She wasn't the only one to be surprised. Mojo wasn't finished, "I was supposed to be in the control group of unaltered chimpanzees. The lab technician only realized his mistake when it came time to destroy, eliminate, kill the specimens." There was an almost tangible hint of malice in the primate's deadpan voice as he finished. "The technician was afraid of going to court for violating the Neo-Tokyo Protocol even remotely, so he covered it up. It will be quite hard to disprove."

For the second time that day, the room was silent as the grave.

The prosecution was the one to break the silence again, more quickly, "Jojo, this is a bald-face lie. We have earlier testimony, testimony you signed, that states that you were an ordinary chimpanzee and Professor Utonium is responsible for everything." Mr. Loks sounded like he was desperately trying to convince Mojo to return to script.

Mojo's unchanging features and tone delivered his final words in court with chilling honesty. "Torture is an interesting, unique, singular tool to obtain both testimony and a signature. Some case studies show that torture is just as likely to result in faulty information as true. I know, I studied, obsessed, researched the topic. I do not think, believe, or acknowledge that signatures obtained under duress are admissible in court. And… as you have stated before, I am property, chattel, a non-person. My signature means nothing. The only thing that matters is my wit, intelligence, brilliance. I haven't lied today. I won't deceive you now. You should never have brought me here. You will not see me again, not even in prison. Put that in your record, your witness statement, your testimony." Mojo finally returned the mask to his face, having spoken for longer than he had ever before in court. He stared ahead, at nothing in particular, his eyes going glassy with inattention again.

Mr. Loks backed away slowly, before eyeing the judges. Buttercup thought his apprehension looked faked, but the judges were duly concerned as it was. They called for a halt in the proceedings, long enough to declare that Mojo needed to be escorted back to prison under great care. His testimony was to be stricken from the record as well.

Buttercup was still gleeful. Everything Mojo said undermined the prosecution. He was a hero, for the moment, as far as she was concerned. She watched him be escorted back out of the courtroom by at least a dozen GREM soldiers, much more than before. The court recessed for lunch.

* * *

Lunch was almost a celebration for the defense team. They had Pizza brought in, and there was nothing but talk about the fact that Mojo Jojo didn't just sink one of Mr. Davids's plan into the ground, but also blew a giant hole of doubt and misdirection into the case.

Bubbles couldn't really bring herself to enjoy the moment, however. Her stomach was knotted and she worried that what Mojo said would unravel and become moot in the face of the rest of the trial. Bubbles had seen the look on Mrs. Valenti's face when the monkey was being rolled out. Him just looked amused, not angry or upset.

Bubbles stared at her vegetarian pizza slice as if it weren't there. Wondering when the next shoe would drop.

She jumped when Buttercup put a hand on her shoulder. "Bubbles, what's up?" Her green sister looked like she had just been laughing, but was now concerened.

Bubbles shook her head, "It's nothing."

Bubbles smacked her shoulder ligh-heartedly with her palm, "Come on, I am not buying that. What's wrong? You aren't yourself."

"I… don't think that the Mojo was telling the truth."

Buttercup shook her head, "I don't know if Mojo can lie. He has an ego the size of Citiesville. Besides, if he did, then he just saved us. We should be happy."

Bubbles bit her lip. "Yeah… but the only time he sounded like he was telling the truth was during those last moments."

Buttercup frowned and thought about it. "What, about him showing up in court ever again? Do you think he will escape?"

Bubbles was the one to shake her head this time. The table was silent now, listening to the girls' conversation. "Not only that, but… that he was tortured. He was treated like nothing… Is that what is happening to Blossom?"

Bubbles probably shouldn't have said anything, but there was no celebration after that.

* * *

"… minutes ago. The infamous Mojo Jojo was taken from the witness stand and sent back to maximum security, trailing at least twenty GREM soldiers. The trial is set to continue in another hour. Tensions are high today, but after that jawdropping testimony, I am sure that the Powerpuff Girls are breathing a little easier. It's hard to say what this will do to their chances of winning the case however. Back to you, Jim."

"Thanks, Yolanda. For those of you just tuning in, we are reporting on the explosive new testimony of Mojo Jojo. The simian supervillian of Townsville was brought to court this Monday to…"

Blossom spoke into the darkness, rasping to get attention, "Hey. Is anyone listening?" She just realized something, and she needed to talk to someone fast.

There was a pause, and the T.V.s volume was muted. They had brought them back in for her to watch to that morning, just before Mojo went on stage. She guessed it was the benevolent speaker's choice. Or perhaps her guardians had more than just two personalities. "Yes, Blossom, what do you need?"

It was the friendly speaker this time, since they used her name. "Did you secure Mojo Jojo? Is he locked down again?"

There was a longer pause. Several minutes passed, and she wondered if she exceeded her bounds. Maybe she should have stayed quiet. Finally, the silence was broken, "He is enroute. There is nothing to worry about."

Blossom gave a low, grating laugh, hurting her throat. She took another breath, saying, "Sorry. I always worry. Is he locked away from his life support?"

Another pause, "He can't do anything, if that is what you are worried about. Mojo Jojo is being watched by six men, directly."

Blossom answered quickly, "Not good enough. Your men are in danger. If he had even a few seconds, Mojo Jojo is extremely dangerous."

No pause this time, "We know how dangerous he is, Blossom." The reproach in her voice should have stopped her, but Blossom pressed on.

"No, you don't understand. I've seen him build a thermal vacuum out of the innards of an ice cream truck in three minutes. You have him in a room-" she cut herself off, coughing. She had been speaking too quickly, and her body wasn't up to it. It took a minute to catch her breath, finally finishing, "You have him in a room with an oxygen tank, a defibrillator, a med-chem dispenser and sensor arrays. Who knows what else He could do… anything."

The silence wore on, and Blossom thought she might have gotten through to him. Then the voice came back, "We understand your concern, Blossom, but Mojo Jojo is a dying m-.. monkey. His doctors say he has weeks left, if that. He couldn't make an escape even if he tried."

Blossom had heard the testimony. She had seen the monkey try to kill himself. She clenched her teeth, and asked one more question, "Does he know he is going to die soon?"

The voice started again, "Bl-"

The anchor's voice suddenly cut in, "Folks, I am getting an urgent report. We have reports of an explosion just off of I-2573 at Midway Avenue. We have word that this was near the caravan taking Mojo Jojo out of town. Now, this is just an initial report, so news is sketchy…"

Blossom gritted her teeth and didn't talk anymore, praying that people weren't hurt. Nor did the voice talk to her. There wasn't anything say.


	25. Ch 25: Unexpected Tournabouts

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 25:

Unexpected Tournabouts

With lunch concluded, it was Mr. Loks' turn to call up a witness. "The defense calls to the stand… Mrs. Sara Bellum." A door opened on the right side of the room, near the prosecution, and Mrs. Bellum stepped out. Buttercup didn't need special hearing to notice that the amount of photographs being taken suddenly increased by a large margin.

Buttercup rolled her eyes, but it made sense. Mrs. Bellum had always been admired for her... assets, and now that the entire nation were watching, it wasn't surprising that she got more than the usual amount of attention. Her sisters didn't seem to share the impression, but Buttercup could uncomfortably admit that she was among those women envious of Mrs. Bellum's natural allure.

Not that the green-eyed sister would ever admit it allowed. It depressed her a little to admit it to herself. She didn't expect to look any older than she did this day. That's why she liked the internet. Her age and appearance didn't matter there. Unless, of course, she ended up on trial for not being like other little girls.

Mrs. Bellum took a seat at the witness stand and they swore her in. "Now, Mrs. Bellum. What is your current occupation?" Mr. Loks asked, slowly warming her to testimony.

Not that Mrs. Bellum seemed to be under any sort of stress, "I am the executive assistant to Townsville's Mayor. I handle much of the day to day events and issues for the city."

Mr. Loks pressed her a little, "Shouldn't that be the Mayor's job?"

Mrs. Bellum smiled, and the cameras began shuttering away again, "Townsville is old fashion at heart. The Mayor spends much of his time among the people of the city, hosting events and learning what needs to be improved by socializing. I am usually in charge of implementing the changes he knows the people want."

Mr. Loks nodded, "What is your relationship to Mr. Utonium?"

"We're friends, but nothing more. I have spent more time with his girls than with him personally."

"Alright, what is your relationship with his girls?"

Mrs. Bellum smiled again. "I am friends with them as well, but often I dispatch them to help with crime and monsters in the city."

Mr. Loks asked, "How often do you do this?"

"I try not to do it as much as possible, but the Powerpuff Girls are the only people in the city that are really capable of dealing with the kaiju that attack the city. Monsters tend to attack Townsville once or twice a week."

Mr. Loks nodded, and opened his mouth to argue, when Bubbles suddenly took Buttercup's hand.

Buttercup missed the question, as green eyes met blue. Bubbles was alarmed, very alarmed. Buttercup looked around, and she saw that half the GREM soldiers had their heads cocked, listening to something.

Buttercup whispered, "What-" The soldiers began to unlimber guns and Mrs. Bellum's testimony tapered off. The murmuring from the audience picked up on the motion. One of the soldiers approached the stand and spoke to the judges. Buttercup couldn't quite make out what it was over the growing din in the room.

The lead judge nodded, and suddenly the gavel was banged three times, sharply. The noise cut back some, but not completely. The bailiff demanded loudly, "Order! Order! Or I will make all of the press leave!"

That got the room silent. Mr. Loks had returned to her dad's side and was looking concerned as his aide whispered into his ear.

The judge was quiet for a little longer, before finally speaking up. "There is some rather distressing news that has come to us. An explosion of some kind hit the convoy that took… the prosecution's last witness away. There hasn't been any confirmation that the witness has been secured." The hawk-eyed American judge silenced the crowd with a glare. "We are going to take a short break to discuss the… proceedings thus far, and make a determination. We will return in thirty minutes."

The room's volume almost immediately increased, as everyone tried to shout at once. The baliff tried to get everyone to rise as the judges left, but it was bound to fail. The judges finally left without restoring silence to the room, and the Utonium family, along with Mr. Loks, was left stunned in their wake.

* * *

The Utonium defense team huddled together, fully aware that nothing they said while they waited in the courtroom would be private.

Bubbles couldn't help it, she asked the first question, "What are we doing?"

Mr. Loks seemed confused, a little at a loss. "Uh… waiting, I suppose. I planned for a lot of outcomes, but this whole case is completely out of hand. I don't think we can do anything right now."

Buttercup chimed in, "Then why are we waiting in here?"

Mr. Loks looked like he was regaining his composure again, and said, "It's only two. I don't think that there is anywhere we can go. The worst possible thing that we can do is not be here when they return.

Daddy asked a good question, "What about Mojo? Where is he?"

"No idea. Whatever explosion rocked the caravan came from inside the prisoner's vehicle." It was Jamie, one of the assistants, "No one is sure if Mojo was in the blast or not, but there are at least three soldiers dead. The soldiers in the other trucks are searching now." He had an earpiece, though Bubbles could hear that Sean, the other assistant to Mr. Loks, was currently trying to feed them more information. "Most of the locals are relatively panicked, as there hasn't been a major attack like this in Citiesville in years." Jamie glanced at the sisters for just a moment before looking away. Bubbles burned red with embarrassment. He must be referring to that bridge.

Mr. Loks shook his head. "I can't even begin to know where to start. Hopefully the prosecution will be held responsible, not you." He was looking at daddy, who shook his head.

"I couldn't have done anything about it. I was here." Mr. Loks nodded, but still looked concerned.

"At this point, I don't want to say anymore. Let's just wait for the trial to resume.

The logic seemed sound to Bubbles, and so they waited. The prosecution had the same idea, though they looked, if possible, more pensive than Mr. Loks. Except for Mrs. Valenti, who seemed relatively unconcerned, if annoyed.

The judges came back into the room, and the room was made silent.

The Brazilian judge spoke this time, in a loud soprano. "We the judges have been reviewing this case throughout its evolution. It comes as no surprise that we have found that much of the work and process seems to have been rushed, unfocused, and, beyond all, biased. The Neo-Tokyo Protocols were set up to prosecute those that would defy sane and orderly restrictions on scientific inquiry. There is no normal court within any one nation that can try those criminals that create monstrosities against humanity."

The judge looked around the room. "We are here to sentence a man to eternal imprisonment, or we are supposed to judge that same man with freedom. However, because of the monstrous nature of the crimes we arbiter, we must use a monstrous court system. Many of these trials can proceed without the usual accepted terms of civilized court. Habeus corpus is not relevant here, nor is there any exclusionary rule to protect possibly innocent defendants."

"Modern law is set up to give every possible chance for a defendant to prove their innocence. But we are not dealing with modern law, and there is no mistrial option when it comes to creating weapons of mass destruction in a lab."

The judge paused, before looking back to the other two. Both of them nodded. She turned back to stare at the audience. "We have decided today, that this trial has gone on long enough, and by all accounts, has put people at risk who didn't need to be. Nothing has been confirmed, but by last count, four brave men who protect humanity against monsters, for no reason. This trial was rushed, under the impression that the defendant was not only negligent in his duties as a scientist, but actively dangerous. Even now, there are only three days left in the trial. However, there are a multitude of factors that are not properly investigated, and too many loose threads. Mr. Utonium, by all rights, appears completely guilty of violating the Neo-Tokyo Protocol, as evidenced by the two girls standing next to him now. Counter evidence shows that Dr. Utonium filed all the right paperwork to allow the so called Powerpuff girls to live. And there is now doubt as to whether or not he is even responsible. As such…"

She paused to take a breath, and the court room was silent as the grave. "There are no rules against double jeopardy here. We have decided on the safest option. We, the judges that stand before you here today, submit that the next trial should be held in an orderly and sane manner, without media bias or interruption. We hereby pronounce, with prejudice, that Mr. John Utonium as no-"

"Objection!" Mr. Davids stood up and shouted at the top of his lungs. He jumped to his feet and began approaching the bench. "You can't! You can't let those things go-" The press was shouting and pictures were being taken and Bubbles couldn't hear anything distinct. She did notice that, one moment, Mrs. Valenti had been at the prosecution table. The next, she stood behind the shouting and screaming Mr. Davids.

It was all too quick for a reaction. The lawyer/monster's hand darted forward and pierced his back like it was wet paper. A grin lit up her face as she looked back towards Bubbles, staring back in horror. Mrs. Valenti's face split in half with the grin, and she slowly lost her shape, morphing into that unmistakable figure. Mrs. Valenti turned into Him. The room was silent for half a second in terrified shock. Then all hell broke loose.


	26. Ch 26: Mortal Combat

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 26:

Mortal Combat

There Him was. The monster that haunted her dreams.

Bubbles thought she was prepared to fight him. But she did nothing. She fought desperately for control of her own body. She tried desperately to move.

Instead all she could see was Him, in slow motion, turning his mad grin away from her and towards the judges. He leaped fifteen feet, up and above the Judge stand, about to come down on the three people who had come to Citiesville to cast judgement on the Powerpuff Girls. And Bubbles was still frozen. She was instantly ashamed. She was supposed to be a hero, and those people were going to be slaughtered.

Suddenly, everything sped up, and she heard Buttercup's cry, "Bubblesgetthemoutofhere!" and green blur of light intercepted Him, driving him down into the hard granite of the courtroom in a blast of gravel.

Bubbles blinked, then rose to the air. Buttercup could hold Him for a moment, and there were so many people screaming and scrambling for the exit. At this rate, they might all make it out in five minutes.

It wasn't quick enough. She could hear gunfire behind her, as the GREM soldiers fired into the wrestling forms of Buttercup and HIM. Bubbles scanned the walls, penetrating the shallow plaster with her X-Ray vision. She found a few gaps in the plaster where there weren't any support beams, and where no one was on the other side.

She made a fist and felt energy crackle down her arm, when she had enough, she thrust her hand forward. An orb of light exploded the plaster and wall outward, revealing the hallway beyond. Two more blasts and there were two more holes.

Her daddy got it immediately, and he herded the people behind the defense table out the nearest hole. She was about to start guiding the media people towards them when there was a huge cracking noise and sudden white blinding pain.

Something viciously powerful hit her in the back the head so hard her glasses flew off fifty feet into the crowd of panicked reporters. She fell to the ground, stunned. She heard the sound of cracked plastic and shattered glass.

Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself to her feet, despite the ache in her skull. She turned her head around to see the indistinct, but obvious form of a soldier not ten feet away, aiming his gun at her.

Okay, now Bubbles was mad. She flitted up, faster than he could react, right to his face. "What the heck are you doing? I am trying to save people!"

This close to his face, bare inches away, she could see his terror and confusion. "We were... HQ ordered us to-" Bubbles put her hand over his mouth, and he froze white with fear.

She listened to the radio in his ear. It was hard to hear over the screams in the courtroom but she managed. The chatter over the GREM radio lines was chaotic, but someone was shouting over it all, "Fire on the Girls! They are the monsters! They are trying to escape! Him is their ally! They need to die! Especially the red-eyed demon girl!"

Bubbles listened in horror, but she had wasted enough time. "Stop being dumb and focus!" She hissed commands at the man, "There are civilians everywhere! You are soldiers! Save them! We can handle Him!"

He was still frightened. He glanced back towards the fight between Buttercup and Him, which was a blur of motion and bone-sickening impact noises. Bubbles couldn't see it, but she could hear that Buttercup was taking the brunt of the hits, trying to keep Him pinned to one spot. Not only that, but the soldiers were still firing on both of them. At least one GREM soldier had gotten too close and it looked like he lost a leg from something very sharp. His buddies pulled him back, but he was losing blood fast.

The man made a snap decision and looked back to Bubbles, "Yes, sir!"

The soldier started shouting orders into his own radio, running to the crowd and waving a few people towards the openings that Bubbles had made.

Already the other soldiers were looking towards the man Bubbles had berated, their shooting slowed.

Bubbles didn't have time to figure out if the soldiers were going to figure it out. She shot towards the sound of Buttercup and Him fighting, and intercepted a claw about to snip off her ear.

Buttercup took the moment to lay one last quick jab on Him's jaw, before backing off. The instant she did, Him was on his feet. Grinning merrily he looked no worse for wear. Buttercup, on the other hand, looked in bad shape. Panting heavily, she had lost some of her hair, and she seemed to be holding her right fist against her chest. She was bleeding from innumerable cuts and one eye was swollen.

Bubbles spoke calmly, staring at the blurry Him. "Buttercup. Go save Blossom. She is in danger." Bubbles didn't take her eyes off of Him.

Buttercup glanced at Bubbles "What?"

Bubbles spoke calmly, "I got Him. You save Blossom. There is some fighting going on inside the GREM group. Someone is trying to kill us. She needs your help." She said again, as Him began laughing at her words, "I got Him. Go!"

Buttercup opened her mouth to argue, then nodded once, flying straight up, through the roof in a crash. Him and her were left alone in the center of the courtroom, between the Judges' stand and the audience. Him just kept laughing.

* * *

Blossom watched the verdict come down with silent horror. The cameras didn't quite catch the details, but suddenly, Him was there. In the courtroom. "Oh, no."

The camera suddenly jerked aside and fell to the ground. All that could be seen were feet desperately trying to move past the screen.

That monster was there, in the courtroom, with her sisters. Blossom hated herself then more than anything else in the world. She had to be the show off. She had to develop a stupid ego and try to show up G.R.E.M. And now she was trapped, strapped to a table and listening to the chaos as Him wrought destruction.

The pandemonium on the camera cleared for a moment, showing a soldier pointing a gun at Bubbles, who was falling to the ground. The television went black, but Blossom could process images like a machine. She even had a good enough photographic memory to watch the scene again and again in her head.

Blossom sat in depressed silence. There was nothing for her to do but wait this all out.

The door to her cell slowly opened, and in stepped General Grimaldi. He looked angry and foreboding. Blossom's hope withered. "I promise, I didn't do anything," she pleaded, hoping he wasn't blaming her for all the destruction. He had seemed to be a reasonable person before, but right now all she could see was rage and disappointment.

He stepped inside without a word, and someone followed him in. Even in her relatively poor state, Blossom had no trouble remembering the name of the man behind Grimaldi.

"Private Anderson? Why do you have a gun pointed at the General?"

The gleaming pistol was jammed into the general's side. The Global Regiment for Extrahuman Management doesn't do lightweight equipment. At this range, Anderson could kill the general by shooting him nearly anywhere with that large caliber weapon. It would not be pretty.

The door closed behind the private. His face was even, calm and cold, "Shut up. If I want to give you permission to talk, I will. There is a change of leadership within the organization."

Blossom could barely see the pair of them, straining her eyes to see the man. "Why are you doing this?" She was still not at full strength since her drug overdose.

She was starting to wonder if she had actually been correct about her captors being schizophrenic. There must be a faction within GREM that didn't like how things were run and Anderson was one of them. How pedantically dramatic.

Blossom wondered idly if she were getting jaded.

Private Anderson looked like he was about to point the gun at her, but thought twice about it. Blossom could read people well enough to know the General had been ready to pounce if he had the chance.

"You should know better than anyone, thing." He spat, "You already think you are a monster, you just won't admit it to yourself. You even pretend to be a person."

She blinked, "Did I do something personal to you? Or are you just that full of crazy?"

He was probably right. Blossom bet he read her psychological evaluations. Not that psychology could ever diagnose the true measure of a person, but it could give a good outline. Blossom surely didn't think she was quite human, in spite of the blood evidence presented in court.

Regardless, this man was clearly going to kill her. She wasn't going to be able to do anything about it, but she could try to delay the inevitable by goading him into a rant. Obsessed zealots tended to like to speak about their beliefs.

He glared back into her pink eyes, "You are just another thing that needs to be put down. You are a monster. The modern age has forgotten what it is like to be huddling in their little yurt, making offerings to the monsters of the night, praying they would be passed over one last time. The monsters are everywhere now, and the night doesn't contain them. I won't let you destroy our cities, I won't let forces us back into huts." He paused, for emphasis, "Me and my men won't ever pay fealty to your kind."

Blossom ignored the poor grammar, trying to figure out what is going on. "I like cities myself. Which city did you see destroyed?" This was more than just some crazy who has infiltrated the GREM infrastructure. He had other troops with him. Were they part of the same group before they joined? Blossom wished she had researched monster attacks across the globe better. Mexico City and Prague were decimated by attacks. So was Athens. And of course, there was…

The grip on the pistol tightened, and she was worried that he might pull the trigger and kill the General. "When I joined the navy, I was stationed at Atsugi." He took a breath to steady himself, "Just thirty miles out of Tokyo."

* * *

Buttercup shot straight up, through the roof. It didn't hurt nearly as much as her fight with Him left her.

Like Blossom told her, their strength was related to momentum, and Buttercup had been so fixed on keeping Him pinned to the ground that she was stuck herself. If she tried to do the same thing a year ago, she would have been dead, from lack of experience alone.

If she hadn't pinned him and fought like a trapped animal to keep him focused on her, he might have remembered to just teleport away, or blast her with his eyes, or something worse. She did not escape unscathed, even just fighting him hand-to-hand.

Even now, as she crested the top of the tallest building in Citiesville, she was still a little woozy. She knew she needed to move fast. She also knew that being reckless would put Blossom in as much or more danger.

A quick catalog of damage said she was bleeding from many cuts on her head, arms and side. Her skull hurt from headbutting Him, and her right eye was swollen. She didn't it would swell shut though, which was good. And she was going to bruise all over from the bullets she got hit by. Overall, it wasn't the worst pain she had dealt with, but it was close.

Buttercup was definitely the best fighter of her sisters, but Him was something else. He must have been holding back when they were younger, or maybe he just got better as well. Buttercup had a moment of doubt, thinking she should head back to help Bubbles. She changed her mind quickly though.

Bubbles trusted her to save Blossom. She had to trust Bubbles. That meant she had to focus.

That meant she had to look at her hand.

Buttercup had lost the three smallest fingers on her right hand, just past the first knuckle.

She had lost them when she caught Him's claw heading for her neck. She hadn't been quick enough and her fingers were caught between both pincers. He clamped down. There had been a moment of resistance, but his claws were sharper than her fingers were strong. Even Him had been shocked into momentary stillness, which Buttercup used to

It was where most of her blood loss was from, and it wasn't stopping. Buttercup made a snap decision, and closed her right eye completely.

Heat and fire in the form of a laser shot lanced towards her hand. She gritted her teeth and grunted from the pain. It it took three quick blasts and she was finished. It burned like hell.

She wondered if they could reattach the fingers later, but it was an idle thought. She didn't have time to worry about that. Already, she was feeling a little less woozy.

Buttercup oriented herself, and shot towards the east, where the secret Gremlin base was supposed to be.

She hadn't gotten more than a couple miles out of the city before she noticed the sounds of jet engines coming in from behind.

She looked back.

Flanking her, there was a machine on her left and on her right. They looked like a cross between a giant robot and jet fighter planes, silver and with the Gremlin logo on them. They had missiles and cannons mounted on them. She could see that they both had swivel mounted turrets that were orienting on her.

She sighed. Nothing was ever easy.


	27. Ch 27: Out of the Frying Pan

The Utonium Trails

Chapter 27: Out of the Frying Pan

Buttercup saw the oncoming storm and decided not to wait for them to open the first volley. She shot like an arrow to the one behind her on the left, that way, she could keep her good eye on the one she wasn't attacking.

She was nearly to the suit when the cannons on both suits found their mark and opened fire.

Buttercup had fought more than just a few villians who used projectile weapons. Beyond Mojo or Princess, there had been many one-off enemies she had to subdue who used a variety of projectiles, from bullets to lasers. All of them reacted differently, and each had to be countered with different strategies.

These cannons looked like lasers, so she couldn't stay in the line of fire long, but it shouldn't push her around like a bullet or a rocket would. Usually there was a flash of heat before her eyes even registered the bright beam when she faced a laser weapon.

She found out that these weren't lasers.

Both of the crackling violet beams found her, and she slowed. She could feel the air growing thicker, like molasses, and could sense her relative speed dropping dramatically. She was still moving terrifically fast, but she was now only getting yards closer to her target. In another few seconds, she was moving only feet at a time.

It was some sort of tractor beam, or something that sucked energy. Blossom would be able to explain it. Buttercup just knew she had to escape quickly, or she would be stuck, stock still, dragged in the current of the beam.

She glared at the ship in front of her, eyes glowing green, as her undamaged left arm tracked through the air, fighting to angle towards the other ship. She shot a burst of fire down the energy stream before her, and could sense the heated beam that lanced through her eyes was slowing, faltering. She pushed harder, as hard as she could.

For a moment, she felt lost in the sensation of being trapped, stuck in the morays of the hydra ball's throat, desperate to try anything to escape, before she was trapped in the core of its gullet.

Adrenaline, or whatever her body used, pushed her forward. Her eyes found their target and the tractor beam started to fizzle. At the same time, her left arm found its bearing, right at the center of the beam, where the slowing effect was strongest. Her arm was glowing bright green, nearly white in intensity.

She didn't let it burst out of her hand like a cannon. She focused all of the energy into a single marble-sized burst. It left her hand feeling numb, tingles running all the way up to her shoulder.

The marble of energy hit the canon but didn't explode. It didn't concuss the cannon off its course, or even jostle the suit. It cut a straight line through the machine, accelerating as the tractor beam failed. The marble of energy shot off into the distance, out of sight.

Buttercup couldn't watch this. Her eyes were still focused forward, trying to cut through the purple haze ahead of her. She was pretty certain her beam had found the target, as the tractor beam was becoming erratic, strengthening at first, then becoming weaker, losing coherence. She shot forward a few feet, then several yards. Finally, when it finally overheated, she was a blur. She crashed into the beam cannon, which glowed red, mangled right hand first. She screamed as the pain ripped through her, but her arm tore through the overheated metal like it Styrofoam.

She felt herself tumbling, both arms temporarily useless. The pain was too much. She had forgotten about her fingers until she hit the canon, and it was her downfall. She blacked out before a few more seconds had passed. The last thing she saw was the suits shooting past her overhead, one trailing a plume of smoke, banking back around to hunt her down.

* * *

Bubbles stood still, body turned slightly away from Him, like Buttercup taught her, in a ready pose. The red-clad demon was still finishing his laugh. Bubbles could hear the sounds of screams becoming even more distant, and the sounds of soldiers getting closer.

She hoped they would stay out of the way. Him wasn't going to be taken down by just a few guns.

When her nightmare finally stopped laughing, he stared at her, "_What is it, Bubbles… got nothing to say? You are alllll alone now. What should I do with you?"_

Bubbles remained calm, her eyes on the red blur before her, but her ears listening for any sense of deception.

"_Cat got your tongue, Bubbles? Or are you just that_ **CHOKED UP TO SEE ME**?" In a flash, there were five of Him, and each rushed her, a claw extended to wrap around her neck.

She hesitated, just a moment, and his five claws extended, a killing blow.

She was gone, her head now a few inches below his grasp, and her hands gripped the wrist of the left-most copy of Him. There was a moment where she looked up at him, just past the claw, and could see his blurry surprise.

Pulling with all her might, she whipped him over her head and smashed him into the already cracked granite and concrete floor. Before the spray of gravel could even hit her, she darted away, giving herself enough space to react to his next blow. Without being able to see, she had to fight vicious but defensively.

Him was very good, but the visions in her head did not displace air. She could hear it whistling past his carapace, through his clothes, and over his hair.

As a bonus, there was a giant explosion of rapidfire, as each soldier watching the action fired on the new, smaller crater made by Him's impact. Apparently, they decided he was the biggest threat, finally, and stopped trying to kill the girls.

Bubbles realized he would get tired of being shot soon though, so she decided to do something smart, pulling from Blossom's book. She forced a small smile on her face, and said, low and quiet, under the staccato of bullet fire, "You must be getting slow in your old age. Do we need to get you a walker? We can paint it red."

Psychological warfare was about as foreign to Bubbles as conventional warfare. Bubbles was terrified of the consequences of angering the most dangerous foe the Girls really ever faced. The alternative was worse.

In the next moment, Him was no longer on the ground, but standing. Bubbles didn't see a blur, or ground shift, but the glowing in his eyes was unmistakable. She danced sideways in an instant, a lancing laser barely missing her.

Bubbles barely had time to react, another two or three beams of deadly light tracing her hops. She shot upwards, eye level to Him as he ignored the rain of weapons fire. The last beam shot underneath, and she rushed forward to meet him before he could reorient and fire.

He had been waiting for her, and his claws met her first, a scything claw to her jaw. She turned her head, but it was only meant to distract her, a glancing blow. His other claw caught her in the gut and she was knocked over Him. She landed with a roll, her belly a white hot center of pain. Bubbles even heard it, one of her ribs cracking. She had never broken a bone before. She didn't know she and her sisters could break bones.

Before she finished rolling, she forced herself to keep tumbling, even though each time she landed on her front, her eyes would water, and ears rang. It was not for no reason. She felt the ground shudder where another of Him's eyebeams would have hit her, if she stopped moving.

Having dodged the latest hit, she jumped to her feet, and shot her own laser at him, her vision glowing blue. He didn't even dodge. Damn her poor vision.

She could see the curve of a smile, and he spoke again. It wasn't anything a mortal could hear over the din of gunfire, but Bubbles managed. "_Aw, do you need to see an eye doctor, Bubbles? I know someone very good at _**SURGER-**"

A 'whuff'-ing noise from one of the holes in the wall turned into an explosion. Him was flung backwards, into the judges stand, shattering it. Finally, one of the soldiers found a stronger weapon.

Of course, they interrupted Him when he was talking.

Bubbles' heart skipped a beat, and she shot towards him, praying she could reach the red monster in time.

Him had teleported out of the rubble and aimed his claw at the gap in the wall. It glowed with an intensity that hurt Bubbles' eyes. It was a second sun, burning bright and large.

Bubbles almost lost a hand, uppercutting the claw as she flew past. Her flesh burned. The ceiling disintegrated. She could see a giant cone taken out of it. The cone continued to expand, filling a large portion of the sky, before disappearing into the atmosphere. A nearby skyscraper was missing its top five stories, and Bubbles' heart keened at the loss of life.

Bubbles shot past Him in the rush to knock his claw out of the way, and she couldn't save the poor soldiers this time, his other claw already glowing. It wasn't as bright, but when the cone laser was released, the hole Bubbles had made was twice as large and there were no more soldiers on the other side. The cone traveled through the courthouse and into the next building, creating a perfectly conical canyon in the earth.

She shivered. Him had been holding back, years ago. There were no more gunshots, as the soldiers fled the building.

Him was calm, turning to face Bubbles, but his face look twisted and angry, even with her bad eyesight. "Now. I must apologize. I lost my temper." His face seemed to turn towards each hole created by his blast. He turned back to Bubbles, "Well, that escalated quickly. I don't think I can let the fight reach that scale and not do something… drastic." His voice wasn't sickly sweet or dark and menacing. It was cold and reptilian. It was terrifying beyond words.

Then he began to grow.

* * *

The flow from the machine seemed slow, too slow for Blossom to actually feel the poison enter her veins. She searched her memory for anything that might slow the drugs and toxins, something she could try.

Of course, it was no use. She hadn't gotten to the point where she studied medical literature yet. An obvious failing, of course, but she didn't think it was necessary. She had always been able to fly a doctor to any wounded person in a pinch, and she didn't think she would need biochemistry or a cardio muscular degree, to use the knowledge to slow the pumping of the her own heart enough to keep a poison from spreading quickly. What were the chances it would come up?

Not that it helped much. She was taking even breaths, even refusing to tense, but her heart still beat well in excess of the average. The adrenaline had to be thanked for that. And now that adrenaline was going to kill her all the faster, as blood rushed through her system.

At the barest edge of her vision, near the floor, just out of sight of the reflector screens before her, she saw General Grimaldi back himself against the wall, holding pressure to his likely shattered kneecap. She almost tried to use her X-ray vision to check, but it was no use, and might set off further alarms.

"On the seventh night, it was a free for all. Families lost their coherency, kids stranded and couples desperately seeking their wives or husbands. We had seen a few things, but most of the big monsters came-" Private Anderson was still going on about his tragic history, and Blossom couldn't find herself enough energy to try to listen. She could find some logical fallacy, or a point in his story where she could try to relate to. Most battles are fought in the mind first and foremost, and Blossom excelled at it.

The problem was, she had already lost so many battles lately. This was just the last in a long war. She would try to drag it out, but no one was going to save her. Bubbles and Buttercup would have their hands full with Him, and wouldn't make it to her.

Then she noticed something. Grimaldi was mouthing something at her, stopping suddenly when the pacing Anderson was facing him. She focused, barely able to make out his moving mouth, let alone the words.

She had made it a force of habit to learn every language she could, in her spare time. Bubbles, luckily, had been born a polyglot, but the red haired sister had to work to learn a language. One of the first she learned was lip-reading and sign language.

He seemed to be saying one word, slowly so she could understand. Finally, she got it. 'Mirror'.

Mirror? She glanced at her face in the silver shine surfaces before her. They developed something like an inverted disco ball to fill most of her vision. It was clever, and designed to make sure any heated beams she fired would reflect back at the center of her her face. There was a ring around it that allowed her to see about twenty degrees of her peripheral vision. Since her head was bolted to the table beneath her, she was unable to turn her head and utilize the gap.

Blossom tried not to think about the mirrored dome much. She found that she couldn't look at herself anymore, without feeling deep shame, and each little hexagon mirror showed a miniature of her face, in perfect clarity. A face of a broken girl with limp tangled red hair. Or a broken monster with red eyes and an unwavering glare. She hadn't wanted to decide, because she didn't know which would be worse, trapped the way she was.

Of course, she studied each mirror scale over the past three days, just to make sure there wasn't any imperfections. If a single spot had a failure, she could destroy it. Instead they each showed her pale face a thousand times. Desperation and fear and resignation and all those negative emotions she didn't want to put a word to. Why did he want her to look at the mirror? What did it matter? Was he trying to tell her to stop looking so despondent?

He was a soldier. He fought monsters indescribable, ones even Blossom couldn't imagine. He wanted her to fight back. What could- Oh.

All this flashed through her mind before Anderson could finish more than three sentences.

Blossom focused again on Grimaldi and blinked three times.

Grimaldi gave a tight grimace.

"We found the first butchered body just outside the walls, a bloody corpse of a soldier who had, not two hours earlier, been eating in the mess hall with me. It had gotten into our encampment, and it was-"

She rolled her tongue around her dry mouth and began trying to figure out where her best bet was. The support to the mirror would have to be evenly placed, and she was certain the thing was bolted into place, so it couldn't be easily knocked askew. If she missed, it would be over.

"-and I watched them die slowly, like you are. I set it to the slowest setting, so you could feel the numb burning pain in your body spread, like the infection that ate so many-"

She did feel the burn, but she didn't want to lose her focus. She had to visualize. How would she build the mounting system to the mirror system. How would a government agency do it? Were these manufactured or custom made? Would G.R.E.M. have thought of this?

Anderson was winding down, and she was running out of time.

Blossom breathed a little faster. This was going to hurt. It would hurt more than anything. She might not even be able to stay awake. She would probably be committing suicide, realistically.

Once, she saw Buttercup spit a ball of snot through an aluminum shed. If Buttercup could know that this would save Blossom's life, she would laugh herself silly.

She hoped she would get to see Buttercup and Bubbles one last time before dying.

Blossom's mouth was filled with the slime of someone who had spent days without being able to wash, or eat or do anything but talk. She spat.


	28. Ch 28: Unified Front

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 28: Unified Front

There was an dull 'thunk'-ing noise, and the dish rotated upwards and to the right, an inch. Maybe more. Blossom was already pushing the thrumming energy through her eyes, into the dish as hard as she could. There was a flash of fire and the smell of burning hair filled the air in an instant.

The metal band that held her head was made of the same shining and invulnerable metal as the reflecting dish, as the manacles she wore in the van. It was bolted to a solid metal slab. The slab was not, however, made of that metal. Blossom guessed it was steel, of high quality.

Blossom screamed as she pulled against the band. Part of her scream was because the red fire of her eyes was burning through the top of her scalp as it superheated the metal below her. The rest was a diversion. She didn't have quite the destructive vocal range as Bubbles, but they were of the same blood. The fire just added inspiration.

The mirrored glass on the wall began to vibrate, and Grimaldi pulled his hands away from his knee to shove his fists to his ear. Alarms began adding to the cacophony, red lights flashing above.

Scalding fire racked her skull, and the metal began to bend under the force of her pull. She nearly ran out of breath, just as the metal band half way free of the bed beneath her. As her head jerked free, the beam traced along the dome above her, firing into the room behind, before her head angled beyond the dome's reach.

Seconds after she spat, she was free to move her head. First order of business, Blossom seared a path of light through each of the seven I.V. lines pumping toxins into her blood.

Blossom didn't bother yet with trying to free her hand, as she panted from all her screaming effort. She turned her head towards the door, fire lancing at the handle. She needed time before more soldiers arrived. Once the handle and lock was a molten mess, she turned her gaze away.

Finally, she turned her eyes towards the bed beneath her. Her right hand was still encapsulated in the metal glove to prevent her from blasting anything, but any freedom of movement was good.

That's when Anderson finally recovered enough to make a move. More pain racked her skull as a shot was fired point blank, and she lolled a moment, dazed.

Another round fired, her head whipped around. Dizzy, she tried to focus her red eyes. Anderson's pistol nearly pressed against her right eye.

The final shot was fired, and Blossom's mind went blank.

Anderson's gun wavered then fell, along with its owner.

Dazed, Blossom looked around, before spotting Grimaldi, who was holding a smaller pistol, almost a derringer, pulled from his boot.

Grimaldi set his teeth, "Fucking idiot. Never learned the first rule of taking a prisoner. Search them completely."

Blossom coughed, the most she could manage, her throat sore, head aching, and body throbbing.

The general looked at the door and they both heard pounding on the other side.

They looked at each other. He was crippled and wouldn't be able to walk. She was burned, poisoned, and probably concussed. Blossom probably imagined it in the haze of pain, but she could have sworn he muttered something about "god-damn paperwork" as he dragged himself over to her prison, trying to set her free before the soldiers thought to fire through the one-way glass in the observation room.

* * *

Buttercup came to in an instant. She was still falling to the ground in a tumble, but she was considerably closer to the ground. And the suits were much closer to her as well, heading for her quickly.

Once oriented, she shot forward, towards the pair of mechs she first fought. The one that had been smoking was the one she ripped through with her hand, but both seemed fully capable otherwise. Another blast prepared with her left hand, she launched at the more heavily damaged one as she shot past.

It dodged, and they almost instantly reversed direction, matching her speed. She noticed the tracer rounds next, magnesium tipped bullets that helped them guide their shot. Buttercup began weaving, trying to throw off their aim, as she pushed to get some distance on them.

She wove directly into one of the rounds, and she was knocked off course, needing to force herself to stay aloft, even with the burning pain in the small of her back. She had gotten turned around somehow, and had begun heading back to the town. That's when she saw the third suit a few miles away and gaining, trying to intercept her.

Buttercup had to end this fast. She glanced back at the suits following her and gritted her teeth. With a twitch, she suddenly stopped accelerating, and the smoking suit rapidly approached. It didn't react in time before she grabbed onto its wing, finding one spot where there wasn't a weapon festooned to its bulk.

Instantly, the thing began weaving and spinning, trying to throw her off. Buttercup held all the tighter. In a desperate attempt, she tried crawling along its length, grabbing a handhold with her right two fingers, but she was nearly flung off when she tried to let go with her left.

She gave up on the attempt, and just resigned herself to the truth.

She started burning off the wing with her eyes, as her left hand began charging another blast of energy.

The machine took a moment, but the metal began to liquefy in short order. Ten seconds, and the tip of the wing was shorn off. She let go of the wing and the energy at the same time, blasting herself away from the suit.

It was missing the last quarter of the wing, and the blast took out a large chunk of the front, but from there, Buttercup had to focus on the other two planes, one with a fully functional tractor beam.

Rounds pounded into Buttercup the second she let go of the ship, and she felt her skin tear at the impact. Most of the bullets didn't hit directly, simply acting as a cutting force in the wake of their path, and she began tumbling again. A moment to recover, and she shot away, trying to escape the hail of bullets. She was about to turn on the ship that was firing on her, when the third machine made its move. The staccato of bullets ripped through the air.

Its target burst into flames almost instantly. Buttercup paused in shock. The third suit destroyed its companion, flying past in a blur. What in hell was going on? Did the Gremlins have a traitor?

She stared at the ship in dumb shock for a moment, before looking back at the ground below, getting her bearings.

She found them then shot forward again, hunting for Blossom's prison. Buttercup kept an eye on the third suit, but it seemed content to betray its friend and then fly back to the city.

Did Buttercup miss something while she was flying to save Blossom?

* * *

Watching Him grow from a six foot tall humanoid into a hundred foot one was one of those nightmares Bubbles always had when she was having a bad day.

She was having a bad day. His shoulder broke through the remaining ceiling that hadn't been destroyed by his blast, or Buttercup's escape. He glared around the city for a moment, before staring down at his favorite, and therefore most unlucky, victim. He grinned, shining teeth catching the afternoon sun.

There was no sign of his large size slowing him down. He seemed to be just as fast as before, just larger. Bigger didn't mean slower, not in the real world. Him was no exception.

She wondered what her sisters would do if they were here?

She suddenly giggled against her will, and said, in an quiet tone only she and Him could hear, "You know what they say, Him…" A sound at the edge of her hearing caught her attention.

He stopped frowning and boomed down at her, "_If you say, "the bigger they are, the harder they fall__**"**_** I will kill you Bubbles. I will kill you and everyone in this city.** Slowly."

Bubbles shook her head. At some point in the scuffle, her hair ties had slipped, and her hair loosely bobbed against the side of her face. Her prim and proper black dress she wore for the court was tattered and her blue outfit was visible beneath.

She didn't respond. But in the back of her head, she finished her thought, something along the lines of 'hitting the broad side of the barn'.

She launched herself at the beast both hands charging a blast, and her eyes burning an icy blue path before her.

He reacted by swinging a massive claw at her, ignoring the heat of her eyes like it was nothing. She actually wasn't sure she was hitting him. She just aimed at the center of his body and hopes no planes passed on the other side of him.

Bubbles wasn't the only one firing, though. As if her eyes blast were some signal, every GREM soldier fired on Him in concert.

There were rockets that exploded into sticky foam, cannons that fired purple lasers that slowed Him down, and a frighteningly high-pitched buzzing, blurry cloud that covered Him's other hand.

Several of the purple cannons struck his swinging claw, gripping onto yard wide sections and slowing it down just enough to allow her to slip past unscathed. She unloaded the energy blasts she held in her fists in succession, aiming for his wrist, past the huge and well-armored claw.

Him roared in anger, furious at the sudden ferocious assault. He flickered and Bubbles began to look around to find out where he teleported to.

Except, he hadn't. Him roared again, flickering five, then ten times. He couldn't teleport. GREM must have done something.

Bubbles' heart almost sang with the glee of it. Could they stop Him?

Him screamed again, this time shattering nearly every window in a block radius. Bubbles felt her bones vibrate and her ears ring.

The assault faltered as the soldiers reacted, and some of their devices died. Some of the men collapsed. Another blast of the buzzing cloud missed Him entirely, and Bubbles could it hit a nearby tower. The tower's side seemed to slowly melt as the cloud grew in size.

Him turned his eyes on one small cluster of the GREM mini-tanks. Bubbles reacted without thinking. There were lives to save.


	29. Ch 29: Personal Skirmish

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 29: Personal Skirmish

Grimaldi first pulled himself over to Anderson's still form on the able. He shook his head. "He brought the keys to your prison into the room. Idiot." The grizzled veteran pulled a ring of keys from the belt of his renegade second-in-command.

Blossom had been listening to the progress, having laid her head back down on the warm metal beneath her head. She had hoped that sitting still would help her vision stop spinning. It did, but made the left half of her head burn. She didn't need to look to know she would have a large portion of her hair simply gone, a four or five inch gap, ranging from just above her ear to part way to the top of her head. She was just glad it didn't remove all her skin and bone.

The two gunshots startled her from her almost doze. Her head shot up, and she saw Grimaldi's gun leveled on Anderson's head. She looked aghast for a moment, then understood.

Grimaldi's eyes were on hers. "The final rule of monster-fighting."

Blossom didn't nod, it would have hurt. But she didn't look away. "Never leave a monster a chance to revive, recover, or live once their rampage has begun."

He nodded, then crawled over to her prison, unlocking her left hand and giving her the keys to finish. "Anderson had seventy or so men from his battalion stationed here. Another eight individuals in Citiesville. He took this facility with little resistance. There were around thirty here that either resisted or otherwise would have needed to be incapacitated to take the whole facility. There are around fifty scientists that will have been taken hostage or killed, depending on how extreme Anderson's men are feeling."

Blossom rasped, her throat rough again from her scream, agitating her previous injury, "You suddenly trust me?" Her freed hand was shaking, either from the poison in her blood, or from the sudden rush of blood to her fingers. Probably both. Even with her vision cleared, she was having trouble getting the key into her right manacle.

Grimaldi grunted, "Never thought you were a real danger. Thought you were kids who thought too much of themselves, maybe. Definitely think you in particular need to see many, many psychologists. But you fight the good fight. Mostly. Why didn't you kill the villians you've run into, if you know the rules?"

Blossom coughed in humor, finally getting both hands free and working on her feet. "Most were petty crooks, not monsters. Sedusa, Gangreene Gang, Fuzzy Lumpkins were just small time crooks, super humans with deformities. It wasn't my job to judge. As for the others..." Mojo Jojo and Him, "One was impossible to catch, really. The other... I'd grown up with. I don't think he wanted to kill those people. I don't think I could have made the choice and lived with myself. I was an infant when he became a staple in my life. It's hard to break habits established since practical birth." Grimaldi grunted, seeming to be appeased.

Getting her feet free was harder, even with two hands. Her body was going numb, the toxins eating her nerves. She finally managed the lock. She hesitantly tried floating down from the table.

She floated fine. The second she put her weight on her legs, they buckled. She caught herself, floating instead an inch above the ground. She felt heavy, and it took more effort to simply stay afloat than it should. She felt like was, figuratively, running in terms of flying effort.

Grimaldi was worse. His knee was still bleeding, and he finally relented. "Can you close this for me?" Blossom nodded, and her eyes flashed.

The smell of burnt flesh overpowered the smell of hair and gunpowder for a moment, and Grimaldi cursed.

Blossom sympathized, but was watching the pane of reflective glass in one wall intently. "How fast can you move?"

There was an honest moment of contemplation. "Slow shuffle, at best. Why?"

Blossom ducked down behind the table she used to live on. Automatic weapons fire punctured the specialized glass and hit the wall opposite, creating holes in the concrete. Blossom noted that the round penetrated far deeper than any standard bullet should.

There was a brief pause as the soldiers evaluated the threats hiding behind the table. Grimaldi offered her the gun. She shook her head. "Couldn't hold it." Her arms were limp at her side. She could slowly move the fingers, but only a fraction. She was able to stay up-right because she could levitate.

Her eyes drooped in fatigue when she wasn't focusing, and she hoped she didn't start slurring her words.

Another hail of rounds hit the table they were behind, some penetrating the bottom and coming dangerously close to hitting Grimaldi. She turned and floated above the table. Unlike the mirror dome of her prison, the glass was not meant to withstand laser fire.

Blossom had never used her heat vision to kill a human being before, but now she swept a cleaver of burning light through the window. There were a couple screams and the gunfire stopped. The glass pane, severed cleanly and already riddled with cracks, fell to the floor in defeat.

Grimaldi crawled towards the broken glass. "Hold them off. There will be a chair with wheels in there."

Blossom floated towards the broken window, which revealed a dark observation room full of controls and monitors and a pair of chairs and two dead soldiers with burns across their face.

Blossom had guessed where their heads were, based on the firing pattern. Blossom was pleased and, just slightly, horrified she was right. She wondered if she was suffering more trauma, both physical and mental, than she realized. She almost giggled.

How many times had she had that thought in the last few weeks? She felt all the effort of questioning herself become more tedious.

She was numb everywhere now. She embraced it and everything was made simpler.

* * *

Bubbles raced towards the doomed soldiers. She probably wouldn't be able to save them all, but she would try. She raced the baleful gaze of Him, then heard the familiar sound of jet engines approach at high speeds. The sound of huge guns filled the air and five bizarre-looking planes began firing on Him, distracting and annoying him.

Bubbles reached the men who were just recovering from the scream, and didn't realize the danger they were in. Her blazing blue light-path followed her as she picked up seven men and women in full combat gear, stacked neatly and kept piled up before her with pure momentum keeping them from falling to the ground. She raced around a corner just as Him recovered enough to blast the abandoned assault front, washing away the tanks with heat. Bubbles neatly dropped the soldiers on the ground in a pile.

In a bit of a hurry, she picked up the one with the most decoration things on her sleeve, "WherecanIgetanearpieceIneedtocoordinate!"

The soldier was not quite as stunned as would be expected, given that the woman had been ungracefully pulled from the open hatch of a tank and whipped along a street at more than eighty miles an hour. "We, ah... we don't have spares."

"Thengoddamngivemeonefromasoldierhere!" Bubbles would have apologized but, there was a blasting noise as Him caused a huge explosion. She could be saving people, but she needed to know what GREM was doing to team up properly.

The woman took a moment to parse what was said, before immediately pulling her own communications ear-peice from her head and handed to Bubbles.

Bubbles had the communicator in her ear and was gone in a flash, straight up over the skyscraper between her and Him to get a good view of the city.

Citiesville Courthouse was gone. So were several buildings surrounding it. There were sirens blaring everywhere, alerting people to get to the nearest monster shelter. Traffic had been cleared, thankfully, around the Courthouse, but much of the rest of the city was an sprawling, immovable traffic jam as people dumbly tried to flee the city. Even with her bad eyes, Bubbles could see people were trying to run on foot, clogging up those streets that might have had passage before, and civillians were running into the streets right at Him, without even knowing it.

Utter panic and chaos. Didn't Citiesville have monster drills? Bubbles had thought they were standard for every major city. Bubbles recalled a vague memory of someone saying that Citiesville rarely got attacked, because the monster harvesting in Townsville Bay attracted all the nearby monsters.

Not that this was important now. Now that she had an ear-peice, she was figuring out how it worked while racing to head off the closest civilians fleeing headlong into their doom.

When there was a break in the Military chatter, which sounded mildly panicked, she spoke up, "Hi, this is Bubbles Utonium. I am currently intercepting civilians approaching ground zero. Is there somewhere you want me?"

The line was silent for a moment, before someone spoke up, "Who authorized you to be on this channel?"

Bubbles rolled her eyes, "Do we really have-GO BACK NORTH! MONSTER FIGHTING THIS WAY! YEAH, ESCAPE NORTH!- time for that?" Bubbles shot up into the air again, seeing Him back away from the hail of sticky rockets hitting him from the financial district, "Also, your team near the big red tower needs to retreat. Him is just around the next building and he will crush them if he sees them."

"Team five, Move east two clicks!"

From then on, they didn't argue her involvement in the fight.

"Watch how close those planes get to each other. His claw blast will hit more than one if they get closer than a fifty meters. Also, don't attack on the same approach path more than once. Him has a perfect memory for that sort of thing."

"Noted. Bubbles, could you intercept and harry him from the north? We have an emplacement coming from the-"

"Don't tell me! He can hear this radio chatter!"

Bubbles was flying a good two blocks away from Him, and he was tearing into a skyscrapper, his claw thrusting through the structure, trying nab one of the assault planes through the building. The plane veered off suddenly, almost as nimble as the Girls themselves.

"How? He can't possibly hear over this chaos."

Bubbles shook her head, even though no one could see, as she shot off towards the north, "If there is one dead soldier with an intact radio nearby, he can hear. Shut off communications to dead soldiers, and assume he can hear anyway. He can see and hear through illusions he makes. Assume any communications within two miles to be compromised." Him was nearly two hundred feet tall now, growing not quite as fast as before, but still without any end in sight.

Bubbles was trying to channel all of Blossom's authority. It was a little slow for her to remember the fancier words, but like almost all languages, they came naturally when she put her mind to it.

They didn't hesitate as orders flew through the communications system, stuff about scrambling codes, perimeters and enacting "Infiltrator protocols", whatever that was.

Bubbles threw a blast of energy at Him's feet, momentarily near each other, and then angled up and at an angle. The sound barrier was broken with narry a moment's hesitation. As she got closer, she corrected.

Bad vision or no, it was hard to miss a target fifty feet wide. Him had been facing away, razing a blast of fire up an eastern avenue.

She hit him with both her fists and Him staggered, blinking and cutting off the flames. She was already kicking off an away from his body when his claw came out of nowhere to smash her from the sky. She shot a blast of energy at it, causing a loud blast of light and sound. She veered, not away from the claw's path, but along it.

In a split second, she was hit by the claw, but most of the impact was minor, since she was already moving in the same direction. In an iota, she had gotten to her feet, bracing against wind rushing past the claw. Placing herself in a kneeling position, she waited for Him to hesitate, looking for her, then pushed off, shooting out of sight and around a bend in the city skyline.

She nearly ran into a street sign as she dropped altitude, staying low to avoid any sweeping fire or claws. Bubbles had spent years guerrilla fighting between buildings in a city, and while she wasn't familiar with Citiesville's nuances, the skills were practical anywhere. She could navigate by the sound the wind through the streets, mostly, as she careened off the corner of a building and correctly.

"Approaching Him again. Advise if my help is needed elsewhere."

"Roger. We might need you in a moment, don't get caught and don't let the nano-clouds touch you."

Bubbles frowned and wondered what they meant at first. Those blurry clouds that melted buildings? She rounded a corner and Him was just a block away, his feet shrouded in a dark blur. The street sagged where the cloud touched it, and Him screamed again, trying to dance out of the way of the next fog heading his way. Bubbles blasted the air around him with her fists and eyes, trying to get him to stumble.

A stray heat ray hit a cloud of nanites and there was the explosive flash of fire, crack of thunder, and a whiplash of air, as the cloud's explosion sucked a huge quantity of oxygen into the vacuum created.

Him fell over into the next building to him as Bubbles fled before she could be caught too close to another cloud of melting, explosive fog.

"Bubbles, you need to make it to a blue tower five blocks south. On the roof there are soldiers and some devices. You must save the devices first, then the people if possible, before Him arrives."

"What? No, people first!" They could darn well buy more equipment.

The man's voice sounded urgent, "The machines are keeping Him from teleporting! Them first!"

Bubbles heard a dark chuckle come from the collapsed building Him had been in moments ago.

"RogerHimincomingheknowsaboutthedevices!"

Bubbles was followed by a blue blurring light a block long, indicative of her speed, as she shot towards the south. She could hear Him racing her, nearly two hundred and fifty feet tall and crashing through buildings like they were made of gingerbread.

She wasn't going to beat Him there.

* * *

Buttercup was having a hell of the time finding the base. She hadn't been paying enough attention once she left the prison, she realized. Too angry that Blossom was being left behind. Buttercup could strangle herself, if she had the fingers for it. No telling how Blossom was even doing.

The thought sobered her, and Buttercup stopped her frantic zipping across the sky and breathed. Buttercup didn't have quite the mental acuity of Blossom, but they were damn well close sisters. She could retrace her memories of the highway.

Two minutes of focus and she was racing down the highway, searching for half remembered landmarks and trying to see as far as she could through the earth with her X-ray vision. She had forgotten that the whole base was lined with lead, which meant she should be able to see the outline.

There! She blasted down the well-used dirt road off the highway and towards the garage door. It was closed, barely visible until she was right on top of it. In front of the giant steel closed door were a pair of trucks and four soldiers milling outside of the base doors.

When they spotted Buttercup, they put their hands on their weapons, wary but not confrontational.

She floated to about twenty feet away, her left arm glowing with power, "Open the door. I am here to get Blossom."

The soldiers looked at each other. Finally the oldest looking one stepped forward and replied, "I'm afraid we can't do that, Buttercup."

A cold smile graced her lips as she pulled her while left hand up to her face to exaimine her nails. The intensity of the glow doubled. "I am sorry. That's the wrong answer. I'll fucking kill you if you and yours don't let me through to get Blossom."

The soldier looked more miffed than cowed, "No, goddamnit. We can't open the door either. Some assholes from an auxiliary platoon seized the base in some grand dumbass coup. We got locked out when picking up supplies."

Buttercup threw her hands up in exasperation. "I thought you guys were the goddamn good guys! Why is there an evil group in your base!?"

A second soldier, bald with blue eyes, laughed, "I knew those Japanese Navy assholes were going to do something. They were always mumbling about cleansing this and human rights and shit."

Another soldier with a handlebar mustache scoffed, "Yeah right Frank. You were totally flirting with that their first sergeant."

Frank was about to respond when Buttercup shouted, "I don't care about your banter! If you can't open the door, I goddamn will!"

They had fled the front of the door barely before she began burning a hole in the steel. The last soldier, a woman, said, "Burn it large enough for us. They killed some of our own in there. I want to make them suffer for it."

Buttercup made a sound of assent, as she redoubled her efforts, steel bubbling down in a red cascade, as she made a cutout large enough for the soldiers.

Once she finished, she moved forward and punched the cut-out, causing it to fall inward. A klaxon from inside the garage was sounding. The heat from the still warm metal wreathed her in a temperature that did not clash with her mood.

She took a moment to turn back. "Follow me when you can. I will plow the road."

She was gone, through the gap and into the underground recesses of the base.


	30. Ch 30: Cutting the Path

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 30: Cutting the Path

The underground garage was full of military vehicles, but not one soul. Buttercup swept it in a few seconds with a blast of X-ray vision and a quick flight around the periphery to make sure. The garage had sirens sounding and red lights flashed above.

She stopped her circling before the giant metal door she once walked through in chains. Buttercup was mostly just angry right now, but a shudder of fear ran through her for a moment, until she quashed it.

The door was at least two feet thick and slid down to seal. It was heavily reinforced and would be many times harder to burn through. Buttercup remembered the decontamination chamber on the opposite side of the door.

Buttercup backed, bracing her feet against the opposite wall like a gravity-defying runner about to charge.

She charged.

If she created a back blast of wind when she flew, several of the cars would have flipped. The room glowed green a moment as her left fist threw a blast of energy at her target. She missed the door by several feet, to the left.

The wall she hit had cracks running along it, but the dust didn't even have a moment to settle before a green cannonball crashed into the center of the cracks.

The wall broke first, and Buttercup exploded into a room, preceded by a small avalanche of rock the size of gravel to the size of beach balls. She twirled in a flourish and landed in a crouch to survey the room. She was in the observation room adjacent to the decontamination room she once entered through.

The room had once been filled with three armed soldiers who looked like they were waiting at the controls of the decontamination room. Now they lay in various heaps. Buttercup's heart skipped a beat as she used her X-ray vision to see if they were alive.

Buttercup let out a breath of relief, knowing they were, if unconscious. She might have been angry earlier, but she wasn't about to actually kill another person. Maybe if she saw them standing over Blossom's dead body… but unless that impossible situation happened, she was going to try to take these people alive.

Buttercup glanced back at the hole to see if it was big enough for those four outside to make it in. It was.

Having opened an entrance that wasn't booby trapped to hell, she flew to the door and opened it. Gun fire immediately peppered holes through the surface, and she floated towards the ceiling as the door swung open violently from the bullets. She waited for the gunfire to halt, then squeezed through the top of the doorway in a flash of green.

On the other side, there was a pair of soldiers wearing those reflective suits, standing near a bend in the hallway. She flung a ball of energy at them, and they dodged out of sight as concrete bits flew off the wall. She tried to see through the wall, but every damned wall was lined with lead or something. They burst back into view before she could charge another blast, and bullets zipped past her head as she dived. A quick barrel roll confirmed it, those bullets were not standard, gleaming almost golden in the bright sterile light of the hallway as they zipped over her head.

She resolved not to get hit by them, just in case, and, in a flash, was floating before the soldiers who didn't have time to track their weapons down to follow her. She gave them a fist to the face and they were both out cold. She looked around, floating in the center of a crossroads.

Buttercup cursed, wishing she had thought to memorize the layout of the base. Not that it would have mattered, Blossom could be anywhere.

She saw the flicker of movement in a doorway, and raced around the corner, bullets creating pock marks in the wall. She could see now that the rifle rounds were creating holes that oozed something black and sticky and fluid. Whatever it was, the concrete started to smoke after a few moments of contact.

She would definitely have to dodge bullet fire now. Another blast of energy was flung, this time through the doorway, and she heard someone groan. She followed the ball of light in an instant, and found one man struggling to stand in the darkened supply room. A jab to the head and he was out cold.

Buttercup heard the sound of something like a full can of soda hitting the doorway beside her. She looked down to see what was most definitely a grenade. With a sigh, she swooped down and kicked it hard, back out of the room, before it exploded into a shower of blue sparks, fifty feet down the hallway. The sparks didn't fade, and she wondered what they would have done if she was hit by them.

This was an idle thought, as she rushed to disarm yet another attacker. Well, at least every soldier she beat up here was one less trying to hurt Blossom.

* * *

Bubbles rounded the corner of the building a mile away just in time to see the hulking red outline of Him at the base of the tower, grinning like the proverbial fox in the hen house. The tower was on a main thoroughfare of the city, six or seven lanes wide and broad enough for Him to stand in comfortably. Cars were mostly abandoned at this point, as people fled on foot.

His right hand, the one closer to her, was glowing just like it had been in the courtroom, aimed straight up the tower. He waited long enough for the fear to reach her face, and then the tower was half gone in a blast of light. At the same time, a distant "whump"-ing noise could be heard in the distance.

Her heart fell as Him grinned wider and then his shape flickered.

Him was still standing in the same spot. The pair of them looked dumbfounded for a moment, then Him heard the booming sound of a rocket moving at subsonic speeds directly at his head.

His right claw effortlessly batted it out of the sky and- The world suddenly flexed.

Bubbles couldn't explain the situation exactly, especially without her glasses. She saw the world bend, as if straining towards Him's claw. Or at the spot his claw used to be.

What was there now was... nothing. It wasn't simply dark. It wasn't just black. There was a sphere, maybe as wide as a semi-truck fully loaded. Where the sphere began, all light simply... stopped. There was no light. And the orb was growing bigger.

No, that wasn't quite right. Bubbles was just being dragged towards the dark space, like the pull of a hundred Earth gravities. Frightened of what might happen if she was dragged in, she reversed headings and fled as far and as fast as she could, blue light bending behind her, sucked towards the event horizon. In spite of the energy she put into flying, she felt herself get dragged closer and closer to the orb. She felt dust and dirt and loose parts of buildings brush past her skin at a terminal velocity she couldn't even imagine. She bled from innumerable scratches, and her skin was rough and abraded everywhere else. She still lost ground to the orb of darkness.

Then, as suddenly as it began, the wind stopped howling and the gravity dissipated. Bubbles, unable to stop in time, was three miles away before she realized it, and slowed and turned around. She looked at the three-hundred foot-tall Him.

There was now a clearing in the city where no other was before. It was three blocks wide, and there was a huge dome dug into the earth, at least a hundred feet deep. All the buildings outside that radius were stripped naked of their construction material, some slowly collapsing, as support beams were ripped from the wall towards the epicenter of the blast. Him was standing at the edge of the newly created basin.

Even with her double vision, she saw Him lift up his right arm to examine it. What was left of it. He was missing his right arm past where the elbow would be on a normal human biology. Some viscous, black ichor dripped from the amputated limb. Where the substance touched the ground, it burst into flames and created a noxious smoke.

They set a trap. They lied to her, put her directly in the path of danger and nearly leveled a nine square block of land with a super weapon. And all they had to show for it was Him's right arm. The right arm of an invincible, unkillable horror. An aspect of chaos, destruction and murder was bleeding. A spectre of madness and carnage incarnate was damaged.

Him wasted no time with theatrics, a blast of light hitting the distant machine that fired the missile. Not that the same tactic would ever work again.

He shouted, loud enough for everyone in the city to hear. "**Everyone dies! Everyone in Citiesville dies if Bubbles does not surrender herself to me right now! And to make sure you know I am not joking around anymore...**"

His left claw glowed. Sun bright. Supernova bright. As bright as the black hole was dark.

Bubbles had to look away for a moment, but when she did, her heart sank. It was much like the cone of destruction he used in the courthouse. Except now, a tenth of the city was gone. There was a chasm deeper than the tallest standing building on the city to the west, an unbroken path into the ocean. It was quickly filling with salt water. Bubbles heart sank as quickly as it rose when she saw Him wounded.

Him really could kill them all. What was her life in the face of that?

* * *

Blossom melted the hinges off the door of the observation room filled with two dead bodies. Grimaldi had made it to the window and was hauling himself inside as the door fell inwards. Bright white light from the hallway filled the dark room, and bullets followed. Blossom was waiting just inside the door. Once the firing stopped, three guns by her count, she shot through the doorway in a flash.

The soldiers were all wearing the silver mirror suits, to protect against her gaze. Blossom had laughed internally when she saw them the first time. They were clever, and would be completely effective if all she had to fight with was her blazing fiery gaze.

All she had to fight with was her blazing fiery gaze right now. No matter. Blossom had begun formulating new tactics once she realized she couldn't use her body as a weapon.

Those suits would reflect and refract her vision without issue. She blasted the men with three short bursts of pink light.

A firecracker string of explosions rang out, and the men began to scream and collapse as the magazines on their belts exploded. Black tar-like acid coated their sides and exposed innards. Acrid, black smoke oozed off the suit and their hips, filling the air with a pungent poisonous haze.

Blossom tilted her head as she examined the reaction caused by the tar, before she spun around, eyes lasing a target already halfway down the hall towards her. The grenade exploded prematurely and she followed it up by exploding another grenade on the soldier's hip before the man could hide behind a corner. Blue and gold sparks filled the air and gently floated to the ground in the hallway, not fading away. There was no screaming from that man, but she could see his legs twitching from where they lay still in sight, just around the corner.

Blossom felt her strength ebb some more, and she had to lazily turn back to the room she just left, "I ha'b'e sl'ecured this hallway. Where are we in the com'b'ound?" She frowned. Now her tongue was going numb too. She wondered what would go next.

Grimaldi had made it into the room and into a chair. He grunted at the men on the floor, but replied, "About four hundred feet east of the room we had you doing crossword puzzles in."

Blossom spun out of the room to make sure no soldiers had come in the while she talked. The three she first took down were still moaning and bleeding, but the man who lost a grenade was still as the grave.

Blossom headed towards the men rolling on the floor, saying loudly, "E'b'eryone mo'b'e to the left, or I start remo'b'ing limbs." The men, not quite so lost in their pain to want to risk her bluff, painfully moved aside. No longer blocking Grimaldi's path, she ignored them.

Blossom spoke without looking back, "Try to kee'b u'b, h'eneral." She floated forward and glanced around the corner past the three men. She saw where her targets were and was back behind the corner before they fired their first shot. She floated up towards the ceiling and upside down. It made her head pound furiously, but as she rounded the corner, more red light burst open magazines of flowing acid and more screams filled the halls. She entered the hallway and disabled two more thrown grenades.

Three hallways later and ten more dead or dying men, Blossom was amazed at how easy it was to kill a human. It was terrible, but they really were so fragile. She floated there, still in the hallway long enough to realize she zoned out, and that her chest was burning.

She lowered her head and, sure enough, one of the rifle rounds filled with black acid stuff must have hit her shoulder. The tar melted through her gown and skin and sizzled where it touched. Good thing she couldn't feel anything right now.

She floated, lost in thought, trying to remember when she was hit. For the life of her, she couldn't remember. More gunshots and her head shot up. She nearly got hit by another spray of bullets and the soldier had disappeared around the corner. She glared, and the floor just on the other side of the corner began to smolder. Haze lifted off the concrete floor and it almost started to liquefy. She heard the man on the other side of the wall flee, before the heat cooked him from the feet up.

Then the door to her left burst and knocked her aside and to the ground. A soldier burst out and leveled the gun on her head.

An explosion knocked the man off his feet and down the hallway towards Grimaldi. Towards Grimaldi, still grimly following. Blossom giggled at her turn of phrase, still prone on the ground. She tilted her head towards the source of the burst of light. "Oh, I sheem k'o be hawwushinating." It was about time those drugs started to affect her brain. If they were made to kill her, they were doing a damn poor job of it.

* * *

Buttercup fell to her knees next to her sister's side. "Oh gods... what did they do to you, Blossom?"

Once she started hearing the distant sound of screaming and explosions, she instantly began racing through the labyrinth towards them. She found the source, several dead men and Blossom lying on the ground, and a soldier standing above her.

Before Buttercup thought to act, a blast of green energy knocked him off his feet and past her sister.

Kneeling before her now, Buttercup's arm shook as she reached out to hold Blossom's hand. Blossom seemed to recognize her for a moment, and slurred, "Oh, I sheem k'o be hawwushinating."

Her scalp was half exposed, red ripples and scarring marred half her head. Most of her remaining hair looked burnt and dead. Her body was limp, like the muscles had given out. Her body was only half draped in a dirty smock, and black and purple ooze dripped from her shoulder, melting and deforming her skin. One of her eyelids was limp, and her eyes were glazed, not focusing. She didn't seem to recognize her own sister. Or if she did, her face couldn't make any expressions.

A sound caught Buttercup's ear and she looked up to see that Grimaldi person, in a chair, a pistol in hand.

Buttercup's eyes blazed a bright green and she screamed, "What did you do to her!?"


	31. Ch 31: Marking the Target

_No author's notes for this chapter. Final chapter and epilogue will be posted together when they are finished. _

* * *

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 31: Marking the Target

"What did you do to her!?"

The general instantly raised his hands in surrender, pistol left in his lap. "Nothing, Buttercup. The traitors started the failsafe defenses. She needs to see some of the lab doctors soon. She was injected with far more than I thought. She could die." She noticed his wounded knee. In the distance, there was more gunfire.

Despite the relative honesty of the words, Buttercup didn't cease seeing the world through a lens of green haze, barely holding back the blast of lethal energy. "How the fuck could this happened!? You are supposed to be the world's defense against monsters, and instead, half your fucking force is trying to kill my sister, while **HIM** is out there, murdering gods know how many people!"

Grimaldi was a perfect counter-point to her barely contained rage. He didn't react with anger, just icy calm. "I know. It's just the sort of situation that would be most catastrophic. Help me prevent any more bloodshed. These traitor have taken prisoners, some of them are doctors who can help."

Buttercup shook with the effort to control herself, "Where are they? Every second wasted here is too much."

"Mesh haww. Da besh plashe for d'em. Lawge woom. No weapoms." Buttercup's eyes flashed to Blossom, and her red eyes were bright and lucid. "Trush him. He righ'. I'w die wiffout medikul 'tension." Those last words seemed even a struggle for her, and it was almost instantly followed by her eyes clouding over, and her breath speeding up.

Buttercup glared, but the green in her eyes was fading. She looked at the General. She didn't have to ask, "Its down the hall you came, take the second right and the first left, big doors."

Buttercup lifted her sister gingerly off the floor. Her heart fluttered when she realized how limp Blossom was, when she saw how her head lolled and weight dragged. She put her pink sister into Grimaldi's lap, who looked surprised. "Get her there. I will clean up. If she dies…" Buttercup left the threat unfinished, as she zoomed down the hallway. The sound of bullets redoubled, and she wondered if the four she left outside had made it into the building.

She placed a quick jab on the cap of the head of a soldier who was too slow to round the corner. He collapsed and she continued to followed the directions to the large double doors to the mess hall. She didn't waste time with handles.

The doors exploded inwards in a blast of energy and Buttercup was on the ten armed men like a whirling dervish.

The room was large, as described, and a good fifty or so people were huddled up in the center. Some wore military fatigues, but most were wearing labcoats or other sterile clothing. Surrounding the group were ten men equally spaced, their weapons trained on the hostages.

The blast to the door knocked one of the men into the crowd, and the others reacted quickly, though not fast enough.

Buttercup shattered the ribcage of one man, before leaping towards the opposite side of the circle. Blazing light burned a path as she crossed the crowd of people, burning the legs of two soldiers out of reach. They hadn't hit the floor before she crashed her right hand across the face of her latest target who spun away senseless.

She threw a hastily formed ball of energy at one soldier's feet, as he pulled the pin on a grenade. He and the grenade were blasted back into a corner, where it detonated harmlessly. She flew into another man, feet first, and used him to bounce towards a soldier who had just started firing into the crowd. Screams erupted as she cut the source of the gunfire off with a blow that knocked the man airborne, twenty feet and into a wall.

With two targets left, she burned one and threw another blast of energy. They both fell. Buttercup's hands trembled, as the soldiers in the center of the room immediately began disarming and tying up the traitors. They wouldn't need to worry about four of them. Buttercup killed them in the ferocity of the attack, which lasted, perhaps, ten or twelve seconds. The air was still slightly illuminated by her fading green light-path.

"I need doctors! Blossom is dying and she needs help immediately! Grimaldi has her and if any of you so much as hesitates to help, I will **not** show mercy." Buttercup was not sure she was bluffing or not. She was still trembling with adrenaline and the realization that she killed four people, possibly six or seven, if some of them didn't get medical attention.

Four people, two in lab coats, one in scrubs and the final in pajamas. "This way!" She led them, impatient at their slowness. They seemed a little shell-shocked and wary, but they were obedient, looking a little green around the gills when they saw the bodies littering the cafeteria and hallways.

Grimaldi had made it half the distance. Buttercup was honestly amazed they didn't run into further trouble on the way. The four scientists swooped down on the limp form in Grimaldi's lap instantly. Seconds after evaluating, a couple went to a nearby room, muttering something about a "mobile platform" and "medical ward".

Buttercup, antsy, sort of shifted side to side in the air, while Grimaldi tried to accommodate the attending medics. Suddenly the speakers hissed, and Buttercup jumped two feet further into the air and stayed there, looking for threats.

A woman's voice came out over the speakers, "Attention all members of Regiment Four still standing: Drop your weapons and assume a prone position on the ground if you want to live. The hostages have been freed and are now armed. Communications has been restored and I count nearly sixty dead or disabled members of your group. I am directing soldiers to your locations. If you are not prone and unarmed, you will be shot on sight." The sound echoed across all the hallways, through every room. Buttercup vaguely realized that the gunfire she heard in the distance before she invaded the mess hall was gone.

The hiss of hundreds of hidden speakers ended, but the voice continued, covering the stretch of hallway Buttercup and the others still occupied. "General Grimaldi. You need to get to the main com hub. We have a serious situation."

Grimaldi grimaced and said, "Soon as I can." Buttercup saw the two scientists return with a flat metal table with wheels, while five armed soldiers rounded the corner behind her. She spun, but saw the men were tense, but not aiming at them. They also looked like they were ill equipped, like they had been picking weapons off of the disabled soldiers as they found them.

Gingerly, they lifted Blossom onto the table. Grimaldi spoke, "You five, protect these four and Blossom. Buttercup, could you get me to the communications room? I assure you Blossom is in the best hands available."

She gritted her teeth and nodded. She lifted his chair with him in it, carrying him where he directed. They saw one soldier on the ground in the hallway, prone. He didn't react or move as they passed. She saw another riddled with holes that oozed acid, his face matching one of the four soldiers she saw outside the base.

The communications room was almost as large as the mess hall, but it was sectioned off into areas filled with assorted monitors, screens and other technology. One side had monitors that showed screen after screen of hallways and rooms, all related to the base. The section with three soldiers standing in it had other monitors, most of them showing things like aerial maps of Citiesville or crowded streets.

When Buttercup's eyes settled on the main monitor, she nearly threw Grimaldi off of the chair in her haste to get a closer look.

Dropping Grimaldi's chair about six inches elicited a grunt and curse from the man, but Buttercup ignored it. "What the hell is happening?!"

On the monitor, it showed Bubbles and Him, floating eye to eye above a huge clearing in the city. Bubbles slowly floated closer to the malignant red being. Her hand was outstretched to grip his one claw, as if to shake hands.

"Him shouted that Bubbles needed to come before him, or he would kill everyone. He then destroyed a quarter of the city to prove his point. The two of them were-"

The room was illuminated by green light, bright enough to wash away the image from the screen for a moment. The brilliant light was punctuated by a massive sonic boom, heard throughout the compound.

* * *

Bubbles floated out of sight of massive red monster demanding her presence. She didn't want to go too fast, or she might leave the telltale signs of blue light in her wake. Once she got out of sight, she rushed down streets and alleys.

Him's swath of destruction must have destroyed something in the power grid, as the monster sirens had half gone quiet, and most of the buildings were dark in the fading afternoon light. There was still a person, here or there on the streets, but most of the roads were so packed with cars and accidents, that travel was long since abandoned. Those last people still on the streets were desperately trying to leave town, rather than hide in a shelter. Mentally, Bubble shook her head. They weren't necessarily wrong to try to escape. Monster sirens and bunkers can't account for Him.

Bubbles had been hunting down the source of the nearest movement. Something just around the corner was knocking down light poles and shouldering cars into one another like it was nothing. When she rounded the corner, it was exactly as she hoped.

A small platoon of GREM soldiers were trying to force their way through the city streets, towards Him. There were eight or nine of them and a pair of tanks. She flashed before the group and exchanged a few words.

She didn't have time for much of a conversation, as Him's voice echoed across the city again. "**BUBBLES! YOU HAVE FIVE MORE SECONDS!**"

She hastily said her farewells and rushed through the city streets to distance herself from the soldiers. Bubbles didn't want to expose them to danger if Him was going to attack her on sight.

She shot up, above the city skyline, as Him got to the word "**TWO.**"

He caught sight of her instantly. She was now only a few blocks from the huge ravine he created in the ground, which was filling with water from the ocean.

The smile on Him's face made her blood freeze in her veins, even at this distance, with her blurry sight.

"_Bubbles! So kind of you to arrive! I hope we won't be needing any more theatrics._" His voice sounded level and calm, as if they were talking across a room, not a city. She could tell his voice reached every nook and cranny in the city for miles. When she spoke, the same was true. Him must have been doing something to their voices.

"Why do you do this? What did these people do!?" Her soprano voice was sharp, and her heart ached as she looked at the ravine where buildings and streets were, where children and animals had lived then died.

Him chuckled, "_Why? Why not, Bubbles? I am not some force for good. Quite the opposite, really. Why do you think I do it? Come a little closer, dear, so I don't have to shout._" His claw was still glowing as he idly gestured with his words. The other arm was limp at his side, still bubbling droplets of black slime.

Bubbles gritted her teeth and drifted slowly closer. Him didn't grow any large, and, actually, seemed to be shrinking again.

She didn't doubt he was still just as destructive; the size was only for intimidation.

"Why do you want me?" Bubbles didn't really want to ask this, but she had to ask. Why was Him so obsessed with her? She doubted she would get a straight answer. She definitely didn't want one. This was one of those rare cases where ignorance was bliss.

"_Bubbles, so interested in your future? Perhaps I want you as a child broodmare, to foster and grow hybrid horrors to terrorize generations to come. Maybe I wish to take you and slowly peel back those innocent layers of kindness and sanity, leaving only a husk behind, a sacrifice to my whims. Possibly, you could become my pristine, white bride, a calming presence to my dark soul, so that I may become something not quite so monstrous. Would you like that?"_

His smile was coy, as he quickly shrank to under a hundred feet as she drifted closer. Each description made her shudder, a cold knot forming in her stomach. She didn't answer. She didn't think any answer would possibly please his sense of twisted propriety. And she darn well didn't want to agree with any of his offered lies.

She found herself at the edge of the destroyed buildings and the three block wide chasm created by the black hole. Him was still twenty-five feet tall, and he stopped shrinking when she hesitated. That barrier of twisted buildings and broken streets was the last imagined wall between Him and her. It was almost too much for her to pass. Once she reached the other side, there would be no going back.

Him seemed humored by her hesitation, and asked, "_What's wrong, little blue? Do you still have any more questions?_"

Bubbles stared him in the chest. She didn't want to meet his eyes. All they held were dark promises and nightmares. She heaved a sigh. "Why did this even happen? Did you cause it all?" She felt a little desperate in these last moments. She wanted to know dearly that the trail, all of the pain and suffering involved for her, and especially her sisters, was just another case of Him's meddling.

He laughed, threw his head back and cackled darkly. "_Ohhhh Bubbles, this is why you are my favorite. You ask all the tastiest questions. This happened because the world is dark and evil without my help. I gave the trial a little push, yes. I whispered lies in the right ears, and I made sure the charges didn't wallow in some dark bureaucracy cabinet. But all the pain and suffering for you and your sister was caused by the real world. One that you three have been sheltered from for too long. I can take you away from all that darkness, the evils of this world. And you will even get to save the day, one last time._"

Bubbles began to drift closer as he spoke again, and he continued to shrink. By the time she was only a scarce twenty feet away, he had returned to his usual size.

Bubbles finally met his dark eyes. "You promise to leave Citiesville the second we can, and stay gone for at least a year, if I go wherever you go after this?"

Him laughed again, but kept his eyes on her. "_Why, that was so specifically worded. One would think you don't trust me._"

Bubbled shuddered at the thought of trusting this fiend, but waited in stoic silence, her face a frown, hiding the fear she felt at her core.

His smile cracked his face in half, as he responded, "_I promise to leave Citiesville as soon as I can, without causing further damage and stay gone for at least one year, as long as you agree to come with me._"

Bubbles closed the distance between them. She lifted her left hand to shake his remaining claw. She couldn't hold back a shiver as her flesh touched his otherworldly carapace, a combination of stick and slick, hot and cold.

Him's smile remained, as he looked around, "_Now, Bubbles, if you would be so kind as to ask your little gremlin friends to turn off their containment fields, I will get us-_**Bubbles?**" His eyes jerked back to hers as her right hand clamped down on the other side of his claw, pinning it closed.

Bubbles had adopted a dreamy half-smile. The gesture seemed natural, sublime, and perfect, as she dropped her act and dived headfirst into the tranquil rage, the tranquil rage that had been quietly simmering at her core since Him had first appeared in the courtroom.


	32. Ch 32: Slaying the Dragon

The Utonium Trials

Chapter 32: Slaying the Dragon

Bubbles's hands clamped down on Him's one claw like a vice. Her half-smile never wavered as both she and Him plummeted to the earth as fast as she could drag him. Him was so stunned by the turn of events that she didn't have much resistance. Him hit the ground first, causing a great plume of dust and rock to go flying.

The crater the pair made was another five feet into the bedrock beneath the city. Bubbles didn't relent pressing them deeper into the ground, like she was trying to drill the earth with the red monster. Her hands had his claw pressed tight against his chest, pointing up at his own face.

Suddenly Him's actions caught up with the situation and he began to thrash and fight her. Bubbles didn't budge. He screamed, the sound tearing through her. In response, she looked up at his face and burned fire into his maw.

Bubbles arms were glowing bright blue, as if she were about to fire a blast of energy. She never did, but the energy had to go somewhere, and she pushed through Him, into his own glowing claw, into his body. Every time Him tried shapeshifting, she redoubled the energy she pushed into his body. Something about the energy flow caused spasms as he began to shift, and he remained trapped beneath her, unchanging.

He growled in rage and frustration, his own eyes now meeting hers in a blazing fire. Red and blue light contested for dominance in the space of about a foot and a half.

That was when the nightmares began.

Part of her mind was locked away, trapped in an endless pristine labyrinth of hallways and doors. She was trapped in the GREM compound, naked and without glasses, desperate to find an escape. Every door hid some new terrible facet of truth that would happen to her, to her family, to everyone if she didn't let Him go.

Behind one door, she saw Blossom, trapped in a wheelchair, her hair gone and body limp. Her eyes were dull and she couldn't do anything but mumble. Bubbles was at her side in an instant, watching her eyes go bright for a moment, lucid and alert. Blossom said two words, "Kill me," before falling back into her blank stare.

Another room held Buttercup, missing a hand and an eye, as she screamed in frustration at the chains that held her to the wall. She was strapped to the wall as GREM aimed another device at her midriff, and a cold, mechanical voice told her this would only hurt half as much as the last experiment but would last three times as long.

A door held her daddy, strapped to the table while a priest quoted a holy book. Her dad looked haggard and malnourished, his hair patchy and grey from stress. In his arm was an I.V. A faceless servant of the justice system asked him if he had any last words. He set his jaw and said, "I wish I never brought my girls into this horrible world. We didn't deserve them."

The doors were endless and dark and all of them held her nightmares. She had to open every door, see every fate.

Not all of Bubbles was lost in the corridors of her own worst fears. Only the most fearful parts of her mind fell into that dark abyss set by Him's malice. The rest of her was calm and thinking clearly. She was free to struggle against Him in the real world, pressing him further into the bedrock of the earth.

The icy calm that washed through her was the fuel to her willpower. A willpower she had created for herself of the last few years. Every time she felt herself slipping further into the mind-trap that Him put to her, she thought of the children Him had killed in his brutal assault on this city. She considered all the news headlines that showed Him's presence across the world, snatching good people off the streets, never to be seen again.

Any time she considered letting up, she let her mind imagine the things Him would do if he got free.

Him began battering her with his stump, black ichor spattering her head and left ear with burning blood and acid. She could feel it eating through her skin, but she held him down.

She began hearing voices as well. They pleaded, cajoled, convinced her in a thousand different tones and promises to get her to let go, to ease up, to set Him free. They scolded, cursed, reviled her with dark evils in a million menacing alien voices.

She didn't listen. She tuned out everything but the fight to keep Him still. She wasn't afraid of what could happen if she didn't let go. She counted on it.

Her grimace became a smile when she heard the sound of a rocket coming inexorably closer.

Him began to flicker, dozens of times in a second, trying to burst through whatever safeguards the GREM army had set up. He thrashed harder, his tortures grew more labored. A part of her mind was torn asunder. Her core remained intact, filled with rage and grief at all the damage done by Him.

It was funny, really. Bubbles could feel her heart swell with every passing instant. Her smile was genuine, as Him's face began to contort into something akin to fear if a thing like Him could feel fear.

Bubbles was proud of herself. How many people got to slay their own personal demons? How many could admit to having destroyed their absolute worst nightm-

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Blossom was unconscious on an operating table, strapped down in the off chance she might start thrashing. She had more lines plugged into her body than she ever had before. Blood pumped feebly in her veins, and the doctors were shouting orders and information at each other.

She suddenly shuddered, and their shouts became more urgent. Her body faltered again as it felt a sudden, heartfelt vacuum.

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Buttercup couldn't hear anything in her rush to return to the city. The trail of green that followed her was miles long and she still wasn't moving fast enough. She had no idea what Bubbles could have been thinking.

Buttercup hated herself for abandoning Bubbles for so long. In heart, she knew it had been necessary, that Blossom would probably be dead if she hadn't made it to the base. But Him was a global terror. He was evil incarnate for many people. Was Blossom worth saving for Him to take Bubbles instead?

No. There was no way to weigh lives like that. Buttercup would always blame herself for whatever happened, if she couldn't save both her sisters. She wouldn't be able to stand it. She was finally at the city, and she could see the giant crater that was created sometime in the past hour.

She could see the plume of dust and glowing energy in the crater, a maelstrom of fire red energy and deep blue light. Buttercup could also see the rocket heading straight for the pair of them. Buttercup's heart throbbed as she realized what was happening. Her speed redoubled for a moment, then she was awash in purple light.

It was another of those purple beams fired by the gremlins. She screamed her frustration, and burst out of the beam, heading to save her sister from whatever fate awaited her.

She was caught again by another beam, and she pushed through this purple tractor beam too.

But it was too late to make it down there now.

The rocket exploded, then the world shifted. All the light in the world bent towards the scene. Buttercup was dragged towards a dark orb of nothingness. The dark orb of nothingness that stole away the blue and red maelstrom in the blink of an eye.

Buttercup felt something ripped from her soul. A keening loss filled her, and she pressed her hands into her face, even as the black hole began to suck her in.


	33. Epilogue

_Author's note: I posted both this chapter and the previous chapter at the same time. Make sure you didn't accidently miss chapter 32._

The Utonium Trials

Epilogue

A flash of blue, and Bubbles floated above them. She looked battered and beaten, with bruises and cuts along her face and arms. Most of her dress was in tatters, nearly indecent but covering everything necessary. She was missing her shoes and her hair was an unkempt mess of tangles without the hair ties.

She smiled down at the group and said, "Oh thank gods I found you guys. Listen, I am going to go distract Him. You get your army to shoot another of those super rockets back into that giant crater. I will hold him there."

There was a stunned silence as her words washed over the group. A voice called out, "Are you, ah, sure?"

She nodded, vigorously, "Yes, of course! We can kill Him! I gotta go, or he might get impatient. I will leave the rest up to you! Tell Buttercup and Blossom and my daddy and, well, everyone that I love them, since I don't know if I will be able to get out, okay? It'll be worth it if we can take out Him. Alright? Thanks!"

She looked about to leave, and someone shouted, "Wait! What if we can't do it?"

Bubbles waved off the question. "We are a team. I trust you guys. I will try to buy as much time as possible. You trust me to be on your side, okay? That's what teamwork is about. If you can't get one of those gravity bombs, try something else! I am sure you got more stuff up your sleeve."

She turned again, and a voice blurted, "Are you insane?"

Bubbles smiled brilliant. The scrapes and bruises seemed to fade and for a moment, she was pristine and perfect, "Nope! I am Bubbles Utonium, a member of the Powerpuff Girls. If we stick together, we can save the-"

In the distance, Him's voice bellowed out, "**Bubbles! You have five more seconds!**"

Bubbles blanched, then said, "Gotta go, trust you, bye bye!"

And she was gone, in a blue flash of light.

The video, projected onto a giant white screen, ended and Mrs. Bellum stepped forward to take the podium. The podium, stand and the projection screen was set up in the center of a pristine park, set next to a huge pond, nearly a lake, right in the center of Citiesville. "That was the last footage of the great hero, Bubbles. She died valiantly destroying the evil monster Him, one year and three months ago today-"

Buttercup looked down at her lap again, not willing to face that beautifully landscaped inlet, created by two destructive singularity bombs and a cone of destructive energy thrown by Him

Bubbles Bay, it was going to be called; a dedication to a great hero. For Buttercup, it only represented grave marker for her dearest sister. Buttercup rubbed the wet from her eyes, but she wasn't going to cry here. She'd cried enough in the past months, more than enough to cover a lifetime of crying.

Buttercup was seated in a folding chair on one side of the stage, next to her sister Blossom.

Blossom was in a wheelchair, wearing a wig that nearly perfectly resembled her old hair. She still wasn't able to walk under her own strength, but she could use her arms and she could always fly if she needed to move quickly. Her mind recovered, Buttercup was thankful for, and she was seeing physicians regularly, for both her mind and body.

It was a shame that G.R.E.M never really faced a court martial for their part in destroying Blossom's body.. Even when they found the evidence of Him tampering with the minds of the GREM battalion that went rogue, Buttercup wanted them to face justice. In the end, there had to be bargain made.

Instead, they brought Blossom's classification back down to a Class Two Parahuman and struck from the record all of the people she killed while trying to escape. It had been self-defense, but if it got out to the public that Blossom had killed forty soldiers while paralyzed from the neck down, they might not have been able to release her back into the public for safety reasons.

On the other side of Blossom was Buttercup's dad, the professor. He was crying, still not quite recovered from losing Bubbles, and that last video of her always struck a note in his emotional core. He retired completely and now just gardens or tinkers in the garage. Overall, Buttercup thought he was happier for being unemployed, and, as long as he doesn't step foot in a laboratory again, the group that governs Neo-Tokyo law has promised not to prosecute him as well.

Not that they were hurting for money. Apparently, there were multiple, very large, bounties on Him's head. Bounties from non-profit organizations, from millionaries and billionars, even bounties from national governments.

The family hadn't gotten all of them yet, as some stipulated that there be no sightings for a period of time, or irrefutable proof. Buttercup knew they wouldn't get every bounty, but they would never be without money again. Not only were they rewarded for Bubbles's sacrifice, but Mr. Loks, their lawyer, set them up with a copyright lawyer, so that they could take control of their own marketing. Hollywood was desperate to make a movie covering the whole scenario, covering the life and times of Bubbles Utonium and her sisters. The Utonium family kept refusing, until they found someone willing to treat the story with proper respect.

Him hadn't appeared again, since he was sucked into the singularity. There had been a few half-credible sightings at first, but as months passed, fewer and fewer reports showed up, even less that were worth investigating. It was late summer now, almost fall. Last Buttercup had heard, the world wide count for people going missing had actually, measurably improved. She didn't attribute it all to Him's death… but every little bit helped.

Of course, they had no record of Mojo Jojo's location either. He either escaped without a trace, or he vaporized himself along with everyone in the van with him. All the evidence was destroyed in the panic that ensued after Him showed himself.

Buttercup held Blossom's left hand, and squeezed it once as Blossom's phone buzzed. Blossom pulled it out, and both Buttercup and their dad looked at her, curious.

Blossom answered with a curt, "This is Blossom." Her phone was newer than state of the art and military-tough.

The voice on the other end, General Grimaldi, came out of the speaker, easily audible to Buttercup even with the speaker far from her ear, "Blossom. We got a situation. Looks like some Peruvian scientists are trying to either replicate LAHnet, or they are trying to activate one of the child viruses left behind. We got our analysts on it, but something about the clues is leaving them uncomfortable. They want your mind on it. There's a car waiting for you at the northwest end of the park."

Blossom nodded, "Sure thing. Where are we going?"

"We are sending a chopper to the Citiesville East Airport. Should be there by the time you arrive on foot."

Buttercup leaned forward, "Is there anything I can do? I go on stage after Mrs. Bellum and I will do anything to get out of it."

Blossom smiled, and her dad chuckled. Blossom relayed her request, and Grimaldi sighed apologetically, "Sorry, not today. Next week we might need you in the UK. Something is roosting in the London tunnel systems, and we might need your muscle to root it out." Buttercup sighed, and let it go.

Blossom hung up and patted Buttercup's hand with her own small, weak hand. They were both five years old, but hadn't aged physically since birth. Buttercup didn't think they would. "Don't worry. You will be fine up there, Buttercup. We are still getting calls for interviews for your book. Everyone loves your interviews. Surely you can manage a speech."

Buttercup sighed again, disgusted, and stuck her tongue out at her retreating sister, who was wheeling herself away, chuckling, as she headed behind stage and towards her G.R.E.M. escort.

Buttercup had been asked to write the official memoir of Bubbles Utonium. She didn't want to do it, and it had been hard with only seven fingers, but she couldn't let some stranger do it. It was personal, and it deserved to be done by one of Bubbles's family members. It came out just last month and Buttercup had to turn down most of the interview offers, mostly for her own sanity. The book certainly didn't need to be marketed. It made New York Times Bestseller's list in a just a few days.

She didn't love the memoir, but Blossom and her dad said it was good, which was good enough for Buttercup.

"Of course, I don't think that it would be appropriate to dedicate the Bubbles Bay to the public without our final speaker's words. I'd like to welcome one of the world's most renowned heroes in the world to the stage: Buttercup Utonium."

Buttercup rose to the air slowly, awash in cheers and clapping from the thousands of people who had gathered to celebrate one of the finest heroes ever to exist. Buttercup knew they meant well and knew Bubbles would have been humbled for the attention. In honor of her sister's sacrifice, Buttercup adopted her humble sister's attitude, making sure to spread a little of her blue sister's goodwill wherever she could. If these people would be cheered by hearing a Powerpuff talk, then Buttercup could stomach it.

She floated next to the podium, and her green eyes washed over thousands of faces that waited expectantly for her words. There were dozens of cameras trained on the stage as well.

"You all know me as Buttercup, but we are here to talk about my sister. Bubbles was known for many things since before she helped destroyed Him. I knew her for her love of animals, her love of sweets, and her love for every person she ever did, or did not, meet. She was the best person I ever knew and the hardest to watch vanish in the blink of an eye. I don't know anyone who would disagree…"

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Author's Afterword:

Thus ends the longest story I have ever written. Both the longest in terms of word count, but in terms of time as well. I started this story a little more than three years ago, with barely an outline.

I've now completed it. I haven't finished the story yet, as it needs months of editing, rewriting and revision to be, what I would call, good. It isn't bad right now, but I have changed drastically in three years, and so has my writing style and sense of purpose. I think there are too many loose threads, too many leading comments that don't get tied up. And that doesn't begin to cover the grammar and diction failures along the way.

Still, it makes me more than simply excited to say I am done.

I'd like to dedicate this work to Wolvmbm, my most stalwart and vocal fan. Without their unerring comments to spur me on, I might never have finished this at all. This would just be another half-finished pipe dream on my stack of writing experience. I don't think this piece is quite polished enough to be worthy of all the praise Wolvmbm provided, but I will be coming back in the future months to edit and revise the story so that it can be worth every word.

I hope everyone enjoyed it. If nothing else, I hope it wasn't a waste of anyone's time. Thank you so much for reading, and have a wonderful, excellent, and amazing life. May every story you read be even better than the last.


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